Hampshire’s record-breaking season ends with loss to Barrington in sectional semifinals

McHENRY – A wild third inning sent Barrington past Hampshire on Wednesday and ended with composure from an unlikely source.

The Broncos’ offense scored five runs and sent 11 batters to the plate in the top of the third. The run support held as second-seeded Barrington upset top-seeded Hampshire 5-2 in the Class 4A McHenry Sectional semifinals.

Barrington will face McHenry, a 5-1 winner over Huntley in the second semifinal, for the championship at 11 a.m. Saturday. McHenry also is a No. 1 seed in its subsectional.

After his offense exploded for five runs, Barrington starting pitcher Jack Postma took the mound and promptly struck out the Whip-Purs’ Nos. 8 and 9 hitters. But after Ari Fivelson reached on an error, he scored all the way from first on a Calen Scheider triple to the left-center field gap.

The next batter, Wilson Wemhoff, walked on four pitches.

Then Postma, a freshman, locked in.

Finding his groove, the Broncos’ first-year pitcher attacked the strike zone against cleanup hitter Shane Pfeiffer, getting a called third strike to end the scoring threat.

“I held [my] composure and kept dealing,” said Potsma, who allowed one earned run in 5⅔ innings.

Six of Postma’s nine strikeouts Wednesday were looking as he hunted the outside corner throughout the game. He lauded the help from his catcher, Peter Ensign.

“Catcher was unbelievable, stole a couple of strikes.” Postma said. “His framing was good, but most of my strikeouts were on that outside pitch.”

Ensign also picked off one runner and caught another stealing in the first two innings.

Barrington’s offensive outburst in the fifth got started with a pair of hit-by-pitches. Julian Ashley-Friedman and Jackson Cavaliero cashed in those runners with RBI hits, and Zack Ostergaard and Aiden Gryzlo kept the line moving with hits that drove in a run later in the inning.

Caid Heick, who led off the inning, was responsible for Barrington’s last run, an RBI walk to bring home Will Steffens.

“Their guy has pitched an unbelievable senior season,” said Barrington coach Pat Wire, complimenting Hampshire starter Wemhoff, who gave up five runs in three innings with four strikeouts. “We were fortunate to get the five runs that helped us have a cushion.”

The Whips (28-9) played with heart in their season-ending loss. Nate Wians gave his team a chance by tossing four scoreless innings in relief.

The Whips’ defense also played well while executing in tough situations. They cut down a run at home with a 2-4-2 putout on a delayed steal attempt, and later recorded an unassisted double play on a squeeze bunt attempt.

Unfortunately, the bats never came around.

Fivelson, a senior who scored both of his team’s runs, will remember the season fondly.

“We played with each other our whole lives. Some of these guys I’ve played with since I was 6,” Fivelson said. “It’s just incredible to go out and even win a regional championship with the same guys I’ve been around forever. It’s pretty emotional playing with these guys for the last time.”

Fivelson’s team shrank the scoring gap in the fifth inning.

After Fivelson led off with a single up the middle, Wemhoff (2 for 3) smoked an opposite-field double to right-center field that drove in a run.

The Broncos’ left side of the infield, featuring Jackson Roberts at shortstop and Julian Ashley-Friedman at third, made some nifty plays in key situations, including to close out the fifth. Ashley-Friedman dove to stop a hard-hit grounder at third and first baseman Steffens made an impressive pick across the diamond to save a run.

Dylan Ignacek threw 1⅓ innings of scoreless relief, closing the door on the Whips’ season that set the school record for wins with 28.

“They love baseball, they gave it their all. They left it out there,” Hampshire coach Frank Simoncelli said. “It was a talented group. Obviously, you want to go deeper into the playoffs than we did. It’s a hard thing to look back at and say this didn’t work out how you envisioned, but we had a great season.”