Matsumoto is a hit at Charleston Southern
Fremd softball coach Jim Weaver switched Mandi Matsumoto into a slap hitter early in her career in Palatine.
"She worked hard and she had the skills sets," said Weaver, who has won 343 games in the last 13 seasons directing the program. "And she took off from there."
After an all-area career at Fremd, Matsumoto also has taken off on the collegiate level playing at Charleston Southern.
The former Vikings center fielder is leading the Big South Conference with her .464 that ranks 66th in the NCAA.
She is also ranked 82nd in runs per game at 1.00 and 116th in on-base percentage at .526.
As a team, Charleston Southern leads the Big South in batting average (. 300), home runs per game (1.32) and slugging percentage (. 519).
The Bucs are 80th in the NCAA in batting average, 18th in homers per game and 30th in slugging percentage on the season.
• Millikin senior infielder Becca Thompson (Schaumburg) was named a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin softball player of the week.
Thompson, a health, fitness and recreation major, helped lead the Big Blue to a 3-1 record as she batted .533 (8-of-15) with a run, double, 4 RBI and a .600 slugging percentage.
She was 2-for-3 with a walk and RBI in an 11-10 win over Lakeland and then went 2-for-4 with a run and 2 RBI in a 7-3 win over Moravian.
The next day, Thompson was 3-for-4 with an RBI in a 7-6 win over Northwestern (Minn.) and 1-for-4 against Heidelberg.
• Illinois junior Allie Bauch (Conant) is the second-leading hitter for the Illini with a .373 batting average. She also leads the team with 28 hits and 17 runs.
Freshman Leigh Farina (Fremd) has 3 hits so far in her rookie season. She has started eight games and the former standout shortstop for the Vikings has been converted into a third baseman for the Illini, who are 8-15 in their nonconference schedule.
In her first at-bat against Georgia all-America pitcher Chelsea Wilkinson, Farina got the first hit of her collegiate career.
Baseball
Indiana junior third baseman Brian Wilhite (St. Viator) hit his first career home run, a 3-run shot, in the second inning of a 9-1 nonconference win over Eastern Michigan.
Wilhite is batting .296 this season for the Hoosiers who won their seventh straight game with the win over Eastern Michigan.
• Illinois State's Paul DeJong (Antioch) was been named the Missouri Valley Conference Male Scholar-Athlete of the Week.
DeJong, a redshirt junior infielder/catcher, earned the honor for the second time this year, after previously earning the award in February.
DeJong reached base six times over Illinois State's three-game stretch at the Snowbird Classic last weekend in Port Charlotte, Florida, helping the Redbirds to a pair of wins.
DeJong tallied a double, 2 singles, a walk and was hit by two pitches over the stretch, to post a .250/.400/.333 slash line. He also scored 3 runs and played error-free over the weekend, while spending time at catcher, second base and third base.
DeJong currently leads the Missouri Valley Conference in home runs (5), total bases (35) and slugging percentage (. 686), while ranking among the Valley's Top 10 in hits (16), runs (14), RBI (11) and batting average (. 333).
Equally strong in the classroom, he owns a 3.79 grade-point average while majoring in biochemistry/pre-medicine.
Men's track
Lewis junior Andre Barnes (Prospect) earned his first All-America award with an eighth-place finish of 48.29 in the 400-meter dash at the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships at the Birmingham Sportsplex.
Rugby
The Arlington Stallions got their preseason off to a great start on Saturday at Olympic Park in Schaumburg.
Taking on multiple Wisconsin state champion Nicolet High School (2011, 2012, 2013), the Stallions used aggressive defense and multiphase play to defeat the guests 10-0.
The offense was controlled by scrumhalf Kevin Anderson (Prospect HS), which led to late-period tries by Alex Gountanis (Prospect) and Dave Woloch (Prospect).
Stallions coach Paul Bergman said the to the success remains his team's defensive intensity.
"We had two exceptional defenders," he said. "Jon Toriumi (Buffalo Grove) played out of his natural position and Brandon Onori (Prospect) played his first high school game after two years in our middle school program.
"Both of them controlled their physically imposing opposites and that stifled any possibility of their scoring, particularly when they threatened our goal line. We were very proud of those two."
The Stallions will take on 2014 Illinois state champion Waubonsie Chiefs on Saturday at Olympic Park.
Men's basketball
Two Libertyville residents have played a key role in Augustana's berth in the NCAA Division III Final Four slated for March 20-21 in Salem, Virginia. The sixth-ranked Vikings (26-4) will take on fourth-ranked Babson (29-2) in the first semifinal on March 20.
Vikings junior Griffin Pils (Libertyville) leads the team in 3-point percentage at .418 while classmate Brandon Motzel (Carmel) has blocked a team-best 34 shots this season.
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