(12)	Homewood-Flossmoor	5
(5)	Providence Catholic	10

NEW LENOX, IL - After three straight years of hoisting the hardware in Joliet, Providence Catholic was bounced from the 2017 playoffs in the sectional semifinals by Sandburg. Fast-forward to 2018 and the Celtics will get their rematch, this time for a Regional Championship.

After leaving their bus stranded on I-80 and delaying the start, you can’t say Homewood-Flossmoor didn’t come ready to play. Two-hole hitter, sophomore Tre Hondras, jumped all over a hanging curveball from Ethan Petric right out of the gates, depositing it over the left-field fence for a quick 1-0 Vikings lead.

H-F senior southpaw Kyle Salley also looked in control for three innings, running his fastball up to 90 mph and striking out the Celtic three and four hole hitters to end the third, keeping a narrow 1-0 lead.

The Vikings took that momentum to their fourth inning at bats, and had a chance to break things open. Back-to-back singles from Jacob Schroeder and Maurey Garrett led off the inning and put H-F in business. But a 4-6-3 double play halted the rally and Petric ended the frame with a strikeout.

That’s when thing shifted the Celtics way, and the wheels started to fall off for Salley and the Vikings. Control issues befuddled the H-F senior as three straight walks loaded the bases with one away, then a possible double play ball bounced up and off the glove of shortstop Maurey Garrett, leading to the first two Celtic runs of the game. Alex Helmin added an RBI single to left capping off a three-run fourth inning for Providence.

From there the Celtics started to run away with it and put another three runs on the board in the fifth, and four more in the sixth, nearly ten-running the Vikings.

H-F made it interesting in their last as bats, as they would not go away quietly, scoring four runs to pull within five, but that's as close as they would get, falling to Providence by a final of 10-5.

Providence will host the Regional Final as the visiting team to the higher seeded Sandburg Eagles on Saturday at 11am.

Statistical Highlights

• C Nick Jones (Providence Catholic, 2018): 3-4, 2R

• DH Bryce Barnett (Providence Catholic, 2019): 3-3, BB, 2R, 2RBI

• 1B Alex Helmin (Providence Catholic, 2019): 2-4, RBI

• 2B Tre Hondras (Homewood-Flossmoor, 2020): 1-4, HR, R, RBI

• C Jacob Schroeder (Homewood-Flossmoor, 2019): 2-2, HBP, BB

• OF Zaid Walker (Homewood-Flossmoor, 2018): 1-3, 2B, R, 2RBI

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