Prep Softball: Porto's hit propels Rockets to title

AURORA -- As far as Burlington Central softball coach Scot Sutherland was concerned, the right hitter was up at the right time.

"You get your No. 3 hitter up, a senior, and that's what you like to see when the game's on the line," Sutherland said.

So Brooke Porto stepped into the box following an intentional walk to Brittany Priest with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning with Central and Kaneland locked in a scoreless tie Saturday.

Pressure? What pressure?

"I mean, there's always going to be pressure with everybody on," Porto said. "I wanted to just do my job up there. I had to shake all that out because I didn't want to get nervous."

There was precious little of that as Porto picked out a pitch from Mallory Huml and laced it into left-center field for a single. It scored Katie Maleski from third for a 1-0 Central victory and the championship of the Rosary Class 3A Regional.

"I've been struggling a little bit lately," Porto said. "I was hoping she'd throw it a little inside to me and she threw it right down the middle."

Porto's hit ended what was a classic pitching duel between Huml and junior Mackenzie Scott. Both were brilliant, Scott with overpowering speed and Huml with pin-point control backed up by a solid defense.

Scott allowed only one hit. That, oddly enough, was a one-out bunt single by Huml in the sixth. Scott didn't issue a walk and struck out 14, including seven straight at one point.

Only two Kaneland (23-7) runners reached base against Scott. Sara Rose opened the game for the Knights by reaching on an error and then stole second. She advanced no further. Huml was the only other Kaneland hitter to reach when she legged out the bunt single in the sixth.

Even so, the Knights were close to denying the Rockets (32-1) their fifth straight regional title. Outstanding defensive plays by shortstop Maggie Yagen, third baseman Rose and first baseman Jackie Smith kept the Rockets, who stranded runners at second and third in both the fourth and fifth innings, from scoring.

That ended in the seventh when Maleski walked on a 3-2 pitch, went all the way from third on Kayla Oranger's bunt single and a Kaneland error and, following the intentional walk to Priest, scored on Porto's single.

"I told the girls we'd been knocking on the door all day, it was time to kick that door down," said Sutherland, whose team has won 25 straight. "We caught a few breaks there, but in a game like that, it sometimes comes down to that."

Scott needed no breaks. She breathed fire from the circle from the opening pitch to the last out. And, she's been battling a bad back.

"No score (and) I knew I had to come with my best because Kaneland is a good team," Scott said. "It (the back) was good, it felt really good. Aleve always helps."

She'll probably take some along to the Rochelle Sectional where the Rockets face Freeport at 4 p.m. Thursday.