By Sean Duncan

 

LIBERTYVILLE – From his unflappable mound presence to his command of three pitches, it was hard to believe that the 6-foot-1, 185-pound right-hander on the mound, the one who was carving up Barrington, was only a sophomore.

 

Indeed, Libertyville’s Dar Townsend is only a sophomore, but you would never know it on Thursday. Townsend struck out 11 and walked none in leading the Wildcats to a 6-4 victory over Barrington in a Libertyville Regional semifinal matchup between two 20-plus-win teams.

 

Townsend (7-2) carried a shutout through five innings, and when he did get into a jam in the sixth, he recorded two straight strikeouts with the tying runs on base. In all, Townsend allowed four runs and nine hits – five of which came in Barrington’s three-run sixth inning – in his complete-game effort.

 

“Yeah, he’s a sophomore on paper,” said Libertyville coach Jim Schurr. “But he’s mentally wise and mature beyond his years.”

 

In a three-inning stretch between fourth and sixth innings, Townsend struck out eight, and he fittingly punctuated the victory with a strikeout to send Libertyville to (23-11) to the regional final against Carmel on Saturday.

 

“I just did what I could, to make the pitches that were called and get us back into the dugout,” said Townsend, who also went 2-for-3 with a double at the plate.

 

Libertyville broke open a scoreless tie in the third with three runs, aided by three Barrington (20-15) errors. Townsend led off the winning with a single, and advanced to second on an error by the left fielder. After a groundout moved the runner over, senior left fielder Nathan Clark delivered the first of his two sacrifice flies to drive in the first run. After another error and a walk, junior designated hitter Joe Eichmann singled in a run, and another run came around to score on an errant throw from the catcher to make it 3-0. Clark finished the day going 2-for-2 with three RBI, and Eichmann added a pair of run-scoring singles for the Wildcats.

 

Libertyville increased its lead to 5-0 in the fifth before Barrington finally broke through in the top of the sixth. Sophomore catcher Max Redpath (2-for-3) led off the inning with a single, and Jim Cook followed with another hit. Then Anthony Brignola (2-for-4) laced a two-run triple to get Barrington on the board. After Townsend struck out the next batter, Jack Scheffler singled in Brignola, making it 5-3, and Derek Foderaro also singled. With runners on second and third with one out, Townsend bore down and struck out the next two batters to escape the jam.

 

 “We really let them out of that situation,” said Barrington coach Jim Hawrysko, whose team committed five errors in the game. “That was really big on [Townsend’s] part.”

 

Clark added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth with a RBI single to give the Wildcats a 6-3 lead. Libertyville will now face neighborhood rival Carmel for the regional championship. Libertyville beat Carmel early in the year 4-1.