Late surge sends Sterling past host Freeport in 3A regional semifinal

FREEPORT – Close losses earlier in the season are coming back to pay dividends for Sterling, as the Golden Warriors keep finding ways to win.

For the second straight game, Sterling scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning on its way to victory. This time, it was a 4-3 win in nine innings over second-seeded Freeport in their Class 3A Freeport Regional semifinal Wednesday.

“The adversity we’ve gone through, and suffering some close losses at the beginning of the year, that made us better,” senior Drew Nettleton said. “Now we’re just finding ways to win the close ones.”

After a comeback win over Dixon in the regular-season finale, the Warriors (15-20) rallied again to keep their season alive. Trailing 3-0 going into the seventh, Sterling scored a pair of runs on a misplayed grounder and another on a wild pitch to tie it up.

In the top of the ninth, Nettleton led off with a single up the middle, then went all the way to third on an errant pickoff attempt. Braden Birdsley drove him in with a single to left for Sterling’s first lead.

“Our goal when we get runners in scoring position and less than two outs, you’ve just got to put the ball in play,” Nettleton said. “Braden did that, he executed and found holes when he needed to. That was really big for us.”

Nettleton then worked a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the ninth to send Sterling into Saturday’s title game against Dixon or Sycamore.

Freeport (24-11) had a chance to end it in the bottom of the seventh. Payton Woker ripped a one-out single – his third hit of the game – then stole second and went on to third when the throw went into center field. Cameron Verner drew a walk, and Sterling opted to intentionally walk Noah Summers – the Pretzels’ home run leader who already had a sacrifice fly in the game – to load the bases.

“The goal was to just throw strikes,” Nettleton said. “We put all the pressure in my hands to get the guys out, so I just wanted to force them to make mistakes and swing at my pitches to get them out.”

The plan worked to perfection. Nettleton induced a popout in foul territory from Cooper Hathaway, who had a pair of two-out RBI singles earlier in the game, then got a flyout from Zach Matz to send the game to extra innings.

“That was huge. Drew came out and executed and got two pop flies. At that moment, we knew that we had the game in the bag,” Birdsley said. “Freeport just looked defeated when they didn’t get anything across with the bases loaded and one out and their big guys up. That’s when I knew we were going to win this game.”

The top of the seventh was just as intense. Eli Penne led off with a bloop double down the right field line that Summers dove for and barely missed, then he went to third on Cale Nettleton’s groundout up the middle.

Nettleton and Wyatt Cassens drew walks to load the bases, then Birdsley smacked a grounder that went under the first baseman’s glove and into right field. Pinch runner Landon Kukowski was going to score on the play anyway, but the error allowed Nettleton to score from second and put Cassens on third.

The Pretzels got a big out when they picked off the runner at third. But two more walks reloaded the bases, then the first pitch by reliever Hathaway was high and went to the backstop, allowing Birdsley to score the tying run.

“Our mindset went into do-or-die mode. We’re down 3-0 in the top of the seventh, and the season is on the line,” Birdsley said. “The dugout guys are great, everybody was just being loud. We knew the pitcher was kind of running out of pitches, getting close to his [maximum allowable] pitch count, so we put the ball in play and found some gaps.”

Hathaway got out of the inning by inducing a groundout, but the damage was done.

“A one-out error in the seventh scores two runs, and the difference is one run in and two outs versus two runs in and still only one out,” Freeport coach Shaun Dascher said. “It wasn’t a lack of fight, it wasn’t a lack of effort. … We just didn’t take advantage of opportunities – and as good of a season as we’ve had, that’s kind of been our Achilles’ heel. That’s part of the game, but it was a bad time to do it today.”

All four Sterling runs were unearned, as Butitta pitched into the seventh and finished with three strikeouts while allowing three runs, five hits and four walks. Hathaway gave up a run and two hits, with four strikeouts.

Penne allowed three runs and four hits in four-plus innings, with six strikeouts and three walks. Nettleton gave up two hits and three walks (one intentional) and struck out seven in five shutout innings of relief.