Faith Heil, Ema Durst home runs power Sycamore win in regional title game

FREEPORT – In a win over Freeport on Tuesday, the potent Sycamore softball lineup only scored twice.

Those two runs were enough to win the Class 3A Freeport Regional semifinal.

On Friday, in the championship game, the Spartan bats came to life in a big way, scoring five in the first inning en route to a 10-0 win over Belvidere for Sycamore’s fifth straight regional title.

“We could hit one through nine, and I know my girls got my back behind me,” said Sycamore No. 5 hitter Faith Heil, who was 3 for 3 with a home run, two runs and two RBIs. “We brought the energy and had each other’s backs. I think we just worked well as a team today.”

Heil started the scoring in the first for the Spartans (29-6-1) with an RBI single that brought around Adi Armstrong. Bella Johnson and Kait Williams, the No. 7 and 8 hitters in the Sycamore lineup, added two-run, two-out singles as part of the five-run first.

After the 2-0 win against Freeport on Tuesday, coach Jill Carpenter said she was glad to see the offense produce how it did, especially in the first inning, which started with Addie McLaughlin ripping a rocket right at center fielder Maggie Sternquist.

“Addie smokes that ball to center right at the kid, and you’re kind of like ‘Oh, here we go again. Are we just going to hit at-’em balls?’ Cause we had a few of them on Tuesday,” Carpenter said. “We just kind of passed the bat for a while there in the first inning. ... You put up a nice, crooked number in the first and everyone can take a deep breath and just kind of relax.”

After Adi Armstrong singled with one out in the second, Ema Durst launched a home run just inside the foul pole down the line in left to put Sycamore up 7-0.

After an unearned run in the third, Heil homered in the fourth to make it 9-0. Pinch hitter Callie Countryman led off the fifth with a double and scored on a double by Armstrong to end the game.

“I had a really tough time,” Durst said about Tuesday. “It was mentally and also physically. I feel like coming out of all our weird grooves was really great. Adi had great hits. Even Addie, although they weren’t counted as hits, she had really well-placed balls. Everyone down the lineup did something, did their part, no matter how big or how small.”

Since putting up 30 total runs in back-to-back games against Kaneland and Genoa-Kingston on May 7 and 9, the Spartans had only reached double-digits once before Friday.

But Carpenter said a big factor for that was the team’s schedule, pointing to a 2-1 win against Oswego, which moved to 33-2 on Friday in claiming a 4A regional title. The Spartans reached double digits in eight of their first 12 games this year.

“We’re not going to drop 10 on Oswego,” Carpenter said. “They’re the 40th-ranked team in the nation. So the fact we won that game and scored one more than they did was good enough for me. ... We came out red-hot when the season started. We were scoring in bunches. It’s a long year though and the kids get mentally and physically tired.”

Armstrong had two hits, scored twice and drove in a run. Durst was 2 for 3 with two runs and two RBIs. Sycamore pounded out 11 hits in the game in support of starter Bella Jacobs, who struck out nine and walked two in the one-hitter.

After two trips to Freeport, the No. 1 Spartans will host the sectional starting Tuesday with No. 2 Crystal Lake. Prairie Ridge or Belvidere North awaits the winner.

“You should never take these for granted,” Carpenter said. “This is a storied program, but the amount of talented softball teams in our area make this a tall task year in and year out.”