Sophomores Larson, Burke lead Hampshire

Hampshire began its quest for a second straight regional title on Thursday by beating Rockford Christian Life 4-1 in the semifinals of the Stillman Valley Class 2A Regional.

A pair of sophomores -- Kent Larson and Ryan Burke -- led the way on the mound and at the plate for the Whip-Purs.

Larson got the best of Life on the mound. Making his first postseason start, the left-hander struck out eight, walked none and gave up no earned runs en route to the complete-game win. Larson (5-2) scattered six hits but quickly got two of those baserunners out by picking them off at first.

"It was a good win for us and my team backed me up," Larson said. "We got some timely hits and some big hits when we needed them. We really buckled down there and shut them down."

Burke got things rolling for third-seeded Hampshire offensively when he belted a one-out home run in the first inning to give the Whip-Purs (15-13) a 1-0 lead.

Aided by the Eagles' fielding woes, Hampshire added its second run of the game in the second inning. Junior Tyler Bentley led off with a double to center field and two consecutive Eagles' errors followed, allowing Bentley to score and make it 2-0.

However, Hampshire left the bases loaded that inning, and overall left seven runners on base.

"If there was one thing I was worried about, it's that leaving runners on base like we did would come back to haunt us," Whip-Purs coach Steve Ream said. "But Kent did a good job holding them down. A couple times we didn't execute with runners in scoring position, but overall I was pleased with the effort today."

The seventh-seeded Eagles (5-11) finally got on the board by virtue of an unearned run in the top of the sixth to make it 2-1.

The Whips responded by plating two runs in their half of the sixth. For the second time in the game, Bentley led off the inning with a double. He later scored on a James Goebbert single to right and would also come around to score to make it 4-1. Larson then sat the Eagles down in order in the seventh.

Zach Crinigan (1-for-3), Matt Kuefner (1-for-2) and Brandon Gehringer (1-for-2) also contributed for the Whips at the plate. The Whips collected nine hits off of Eagles starter Dan Hutcheson (1-2).

Hampshire will have to beat host and top seed Stillman Valley (24-3) at 11 a.m. Saturday for the right to advance to sectional play.

"It'll be a tough chore to beat them on Saturday," Ream said. "I think the boys realize that if they can beat them then that means we played well and we have a shot to do more. We can play with anyone if we play well and hopefully we can do that on Saturday."