Softball
Lindsay Melson knew rest and lots of ice would be key components to her recovery from a fluke injury last spring.
Lauren Richert figures she has the perfect situation.
When Tammy Olson’s softball team thought its largest goal this season should be to stay above .500 and contend for a conference title, Olson told them they could strive for better.
Danielle Simons was an imposing presence on the softball field and if she didn’t intimidate her opponents at first glance, she frustrated them later.
For three local softball players, Sunday marked their final high school softball game.
ELGIN – Elk Grove Village had been living on the long ball all season, but Cary-Grove’s softball team wouldn’t let the Grenadiers get away with it Wednesday.
All season, the Cary-Grove softball team has taken its season one pitch, one out, one inning and one game at a time.
HUNTLEY – The tears were flowing, the cameras were snapping and another Cary-Grove varsity team wrote its own chapter in what has been an incredible school year for Trojans athletics.
CRYSTAL LAKE – The situation was set up as perfectly as could be for Marengo’s softball team in the bottom of the seventh inning of Saturday’s IHSA Class 3A Prairie Ridge Sectional championship game against Antioch.
It seems each season Cary-Grove and Jacobs end up on a collision course in the softball playoffs, and this year, true to form, the Trojans and the Eagles will vie to knock off one another in an IHSA Class 4A Huntley Sectional final at 10 a.m. today.
HUNTLEY – When the game was over, it was difficult to believe that Jacobs’ softball team ever trailed Hononegah.
The Rant thinks it’s pretty cool that we still have six local teams fightin’ for a state title.
CRYSTAL LAKE – Amanda Hart had no idea how many people rushed the field and started hugging her.
HUNTLEY – Cary-Grove’s four first-inning runs in its Huntley Sectional softball semifinal against Elgin were a welcome relief.
Wednesday was a good day for our local baseball and softball teams who were all playin’ in sectional semifinal games.
Two of the area’s best softball teams will face one another today in an IHSA Class 3A Prairie Ridge Sectional, and both felt at some point that their seasons might come down to this one game.
HUNTLEY – The game plan for Jacobs going into Saturday’s IHSA Class 4A Huntley Regional final was to get off to a quick start against top-seeded Huntley.
ROCK FALLS – Lindsay Melson gave it a go, but it just wasn’t meant to be for the Harvard girls softball team.
ALGONQUIN – Huntley’s baseball team had an inning to remember Thursday at the IHSA Class 4A Jacobs Regional.
WOODSTOCK – Richmond-Burton senior catcher Miranda Burns watched Woodstock North pitcher Rebecca Einspahr release the pitch and silently counted.
BELVIDERE – Danielle Simons allowed two hits Wednesday to lead top-seeded Marengo to a 10-0 victory in an IHSA Class 3A Belvidere Regional semifinal against the fourth-seeded host school.
Athlete of the Week
There is one thing missing from the most decorated thrower in McHenry County track and field history’s resume: a state title.
WOODSTOCK – Not even a 70-minute weather delay in the middle of the game could stop Prairie Ridge senior pitcher Johanna Turner on Tuesday in the Wolves’ IHSA Class 3A Woodstock North Regional semifinal against Marian Central.
HUNTLEY– It takes most softball teams at least three or four games to score 31 runs.
After an eventful weekend that ended regular season play, it’s time for the playoffs.
WOODSTOCK – The celebration was tempered Monday because Marian Central’s softball team has bigger plans.
JOHNSBURG – It says a lot when a team can rely on a player to have a productive game when it matters most.
Huntley’s softball team will have to try for a third consecutive regional title without senior catcher and standout Jenna
The weight of expectation proved significantly heavier than Prairie Ridge’s softball team anticipated in the opening weeks of this season.
HARVARD – The Harvard girls softball didn’t have its ace in the pitcher’s circle for the IHSA Class 2A Harvard Regional championship Saturday, but the Hornets still played a big game.
LAKE VILLA – Johnsburg’s No. 1 doubles team of senior Brayton Regner and sophomore Colin Goulet made it to the semifinals in the IHSA Lakes Boys Tennis Sectional on Saturday, qualifying the duo for the state tournament, which starts Thursday throughout the northwest suburbs.
ROCKFORD – Huntley girls soccer coach Kris Grabner thought his team could have been a bit more patient with its shots Friday in the IHSA Class 3A Jefferson Regional final.
CRYSTAL LAKE – First-place Prairie Ridge and second-place Crystal Lake Central came into Thursday’s Fox Valley Conference Fox Division softball game one game apart in the standings.
The Rant has to give it up for The Ridge softball team, which beat CL Community to clinch the Fox title and for a Grayslake Old baseball team that won its final five FVC games to win the Fox.
Athlete of the Week
HAMPSHIRE – Danielle Simons earned her 20th win of the season Wednesday with a 10-0, six-inning Big Northern Conference East Division softball victory against Hampshire.
ALGONQUIN – The Huntley softball team scored three runs in the sixth inning and one in the seventh to steal a 4-3 victory from Jacobs in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division play Tuesday.
CRYSTAL LAKE – Brittany York had seen Nikki Greenhill’s riseball a few times before the Crystal Lake Central junior catcher stepped to the plate Monday.
CRYSTAL LAKE – Cary-Grove’s Lindsay Efflandt struck out eight Monday in improving her record to 20-3 in the Trojans’ 9-3 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division win against Crystal Lake South.
ROCHELLE – Hampshire’s girls track and field team had two top individual finishers Saturday at the IHSA Class 2A Rochelle Sectional.
HUNTLEY – For the second consecutive year, the Marengo softball team has won 29 games. Saturday, the Indians showed again why they rank among the area’s best teams in an 11-2 non-conference win against Huntley.
Athlete of the Week
ROCKFORD – Harvard’s Emily Scott qualified for state in two events and set a school record in the shot put at the girls track Class 1A Rockford Christian Sectional on Friday.
It has been an interesting week in prep sports with plenty of big games that helped decide who’s bringin’ home the hardware.
Lindsay Melson sequestered herself from the rest of her McHenry County Heat Wave softball teammates last winter inside a tunnel with a bucket of balls.
Athlete of the Week
CARY – This year, Cary-Grove’s softball team is intent on being a little selfish.
CARY – Taylor Dunne just couldn’t stop her adrenaline.
