Baseball: McHenry rolls past Huntley for Class 4A Hampshire Sectional title

HAMPSHIRE – First, McHenry pinch hitter Donovan Christman ripped a two-out, two-RBI single in the top of the third inning.

Then, it was Kaden Wasniewski with a two-run triple and Kyle Maness with a two-run homer an inning later.

Eventually, almost every Warrior had a hand in the offense as they removed any drama from Monday’s Class 4A Hampshire Sectional championship and cruised to a 22-7 victory over Huntley.

The win gave McHenry (30-7) its second sectional title in three seasons and sent it on to meet York on Monday night in the Kane County Cougars Supersectional, a rematch of the two teams that squared off in an 11-inning game that McHenry won two years ago.

Huntley (29-8-1) won its sixth consecutive Fox Valley Conference title this season and its seventh straight regional title but could not get its third sectional championship in school history.

The game started Saturday, and McHenry led 2-0 in the top of the third inning with runners on first and second when the game was suspended because of rain.

“You get fired up. The adrenaline rush is insane,” said McHenry left fielder Payton Sensabaugh, who led off the seventh with a solo homer. “Just keep going. When it’s on fire like that, it’s one of the best feelings ever.

“It’s fun, you’re all up and screaming and jumping, you can’t beat it. Especially for the seniors, it’s the last game of the year if we lose. We have to win.”

The Warriors capitalized on four Red Raiders errors, 12 walks, three hit batters and swiped five bases.

“Our guys came ready to play, that’s for sure,” Warriors coach Brian Rockweiler said. “We talked this morning about the importance of getting runs early, first and second with nobody out. It didn’t start out well with two strikeouts, but Donovan’s big hit was huge. After that, our guys just had a lot of confidence and kept hitting.

Huntley’s Drew Borkowski got a pair of strikeouts before Christman lined a single up the middle for a 4-0 lead.

“I was just thinking that I didn’t want to go down looking or anything,” Christman said. “I just stuck with it, I was looking for the fastball and had a feeling it was coming and put it right back up the middle.

“Once we got those two runs in, all the energy and everything just lifts up the whole team. Everybody gets all excited. That was a great game.”

In the fourth, Wasniewski tripled off the left-center field wall for two runs and Maness ripped a homer to left for two more.

“I just saw the ball and my eyes lit up,” Maness said. “We talked about the pitcher a little bit. I saw the pitch and just swing. Everyone was seeing the ball well, I guess. It gave us a lot of momentum and the bats just stayed alive.”

McHenry junior Brandon Shannon threw 81 pitches in four innings, striking out nine, for the win. The Warriors matched their season high for runs, equaling the total from their 22-0 win over Round Lake in the regional first round.

It was an uncharacterstic performance for Huntley, which thrived on strong pitching and defense all season.

“We gave 22 freebies, and you can’t give up 22 freebies, that’s walks, hit by pitch, errors and stolen bases,” Raiders coach Andy Jakubowski said. “They earned it, and good luck to them at Kane County, and I hope they get to Joliet.

“The goal was to get zero or one run in the third and have 15 outs to play with and try to chip away. We got two back [in the third], and their offense just exploded from there. We didn’t have anything to match it.

“Our guys have nothing to hang their heads about. We just got beat by the better team today. That’s the game of baseball.”