Montini avenges two losses against St. Francis to win sectional title

LOMBARD – Montini stampeded its way to a Class 3A sectional softball championship on its home field with a 13-2 run-rule victory over St. Francis in five innings on Friday evening in Lombard.

The Broncos (19-16) entered this ballgame as an underdog as the lower seed in their bracket. They were motivated after dropping both of their regular matchups against a talented St. Francis squad (23-5) this season.

“It’s really special,” said Montini coach Amy Bukovsky as she watched her team gather around the pitcher’s mound to raise a sectional plaque after defending their home field.

“I don’t know that we’ve ever done that in the history of our program here,” added Bukovsky, referring to claiming this postseason championship on campus. “When we chose to run the sectional, that was a big motivating factor for us. We were like, ‘We’re gonna be here no matter what. We’re gonna be out here, raking the field, and doing all that stuff. So we may as well be playing.”

After slugging their way to a 12-3 win over Fenwick on Thursday, the Bronco bats remained red hot against the Spartans.

Montini senior Katherine Filkowski led off the game with a base hit to center field before advancing to second base on a wild pitch.

Two batters later, she scored the game’s first run on a double to right by sophomore Aubry Raffen as the Broncos led 4-1 after the first frame.

“They hit the ball, and we made a couple of big mistakes,” said St. Francis coach Ralph Remus. “You can’t give a good team outs because they just will take advantage of it. And that’s what they did.”

Montini sprinted to a 10-1 lead after two innings, controlling the game throughout.

Raffen was a driving force for the Broncos as she went 4 for 4 with a pair doubles, three RBI and three runs.

“We have nothing to lose, we’re the third seed,” Raffen said. “The last game we played the two seed, and before that, we played the one seed. So we’re the underdogs in all these situations. [The other teams] should have all the nerves and we should just go out there and play, and have fun, and play softball.”

That is exactly what the Broncos did, pounding out 17 hits. Freshman pitcher Cameron Fox went 4 for 4 at the plate, driving in four runs in addition to hurling five innings with six strikeouts.

“She just brings a confidence,” said Bukovsky about her first-year pitcher. “I think it’s really cool seeing our upperclassmen supporting the freshman pitcher … she really brings us together in that way because they all want to be there for her as the freshman who is in a big spot.”

Bukovsky seems to have established a winning culture in the Broncos’ dugout as the team makes a late-season push.

“The hype from our team really helped everyone stay up and ready,” said Fox. “I think that our teamwork made everyone get the confidence to be able to do well.”

“We really brought the energy in the dugout,” added Montini senior Ariana Macias, grinning behind a pair of wraparound sunglasses. “We really made sure that we came back and just had more momentum.”

Macias had three hits, scored two runs and drove in one teammate.

“It means a lot. It’s my last year. I really wanted to make the best of it, and this team [has] made it possible for me,” added Macias. “I think we were going to take it. I have a lot of faith in this team. This team is really special to me, and I think we’ll take it all the way.”

As for St. Francis, coach Remus is proud of the growth his team showed this season and is eager to get back to work for 2026.

“We’re a young team, so we have a lot of players coming back next year, and I said the goal this year was to get better from start to finish, and we did that. So I think we met our goal,” said Remus.

The Broncos will head to Benedictine University to face St. Laurence at 4:30 p.m. in supersectional action.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250606/softball/softball-montinis-bats-stay-hot-in-sectional-championship-win-over-st-francis/