Baseball: Grant tops Crystal Lake Central in playoff opener

Ricky Allen had a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh, and Bryan Libby did not allow an earned run in a complete-game effort, as Grant's baseball team opened Class 4A state tournament action with a 4-3 win over visiting Crystal Lake Central on Monday.

Libby improved to 8-1, lifting sixth-seeded Grant (23-13) into Wednesday's 4 p.m. regional semifinal against No. 2 Crystal Lake South at Cary-Grove.

James Pendley homered and walked for the Bulldogs, while Matt Mason contributed an RBI single. Allen finished 2-for-4 with a double.

Lake Zurich 22, Round Lake 0: Shane Nolan pitched a 5-inning no-hitter with 9 strikeouts, Cam Boyle hit a grand slam and finished with 6 RBI, and the host Bears dispatched the 21st-seeded Panthers in a Class 4A regional play-in.

No. 12 Lake Zurich will play No. 5 Prospect in a semifinal of the Glenbrook North regional at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

Nolan was 4-for-4 at the plate with 3 RBI, while Nick Sanders went 3-for-3 with 4 RBI. The Bears got doubles from Nolan, Boyle, Sanders, Austin Wells, Zach Bauman, Ben Cornelius and Alex Kozlowski.

Mundelein 9, New Trier 8: Zach Zagula hit a walk-off double in the bottom of the seventh, lifting the Mustangs to the nonconference win.

Brendan Murphy was 3-for-4 with 2 doubles for Mundelein (25-9). Reese Dolan, Ryan Fairweather and Nick Stricker also doubled for the Mustangs. Ryan Antenore earned the win.

Lakes 12, Grayslake Central 12: The nonconference game ended in a tie after seven innings.

Lakes got home runs from Max Swiatek (3-for-3, 3 RBI), Jack Christensen (2-for-5, double, 3 RBI) and Ben Milewski (3-for-5, double, 2 RBI). Matt Milewski was 2-for-3 with 2 RBI.

For Grayslake Central, San Ruhlmann went 4-for-4 with a homer and 3 RBI. Kyle Allen was 3-for-4 with 2 RBI, and Justin Shepley went 2-for-3. Ben Fitzgerald had a double and 2 RBI for the Rams.

Notre Dame 7, Stevenson 6: The Patriots lost the nonconference game, despite 2 hits apiece from Jack Cappalli, Pat Loeffler, Robbie McGaha (2 RBI) and Jack Housinger (2 RBI).

Glenbrook South 1, Grayslake North 0: Brendan Taskovic suffered the tough-luck loss in the Class 4A regional play-in, going the distance on the mound.

Chris Kelly was 2-for-3 for the host Knights, who were seeded 14th.

No. 19 Glenbrook South earned a berth in Wednesday's 4:30 p.m. regional seminal against No. 3 Stevenson at Palatine.

Lake Forest 4, Vernon Hills 0: Connor McNamara and Brennan Reback had the only hits for the host Cougars in the nonconference game.