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Games pitch-perfect for Grayslake Summer Days festival

Tristan Gottstein, 13, threw a 54 mph fastball pitch, about waist high, right down the middle of Center Street in Grayslake.

He was trying to top 60 mph in the Grayslake Youth Baseball Association's pitching booth Saturday on the second day of the Grayslake Summer Days festival.

"The secret to throwing the fastball is you have to keep your eye on the target while turning your waist," said Gottstein, of Grayslake.

Contestants at the booth - one of many at the festival - paid $1 to throw three pitches. Those who guessed the speed of their third pitch won a T-shirt, said radar gun operator Jim Chamernik, a coach in the youth league. The fastest pitch of the day by noon was 63 mph, he said.

"All of the profits go to the association which has a spring, summer and travel league," Chamernik said.

Other games at the festival, which continues Sunday, included a basketball shoot, magnet fishing and a water-gun race.

Music, food and Lake County's only night parade are other highlights of the annual Grayslake Summer Days festival this weekend.

The three-day fest, which returned to Center and Whitney streets in downtown Grayslake, remains one of the few on the suburban calendar in mid-August or later, organizers said.

Saturday's event included the pet and bicycle parade during the day, which led up to the big night parade with the theme of "Superheroes Come to Grayslake."

Summer Days is sponsored by the Grayslake Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

  Jim Chamernik, a coach with Grayslake Youth Baseball Association, times a pitch using a radar gun at the association's pitching booth on Saturday during the second day of the Grayslake Summer Days festival in downtown. George LeClaire/gleclaire@dailyherald.com
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