Spring season off to a rousing cold and wet start

There's nothing quite like the spring high school sports season.

One day, you're dodging raindrops and attempting to catch snowflakes on your tongue while all bundled up in a winter coat, wearing a stocking cap and gloves with inserted hand warmers.

The next day, you're frantically searching for SPF 30 suntan lotion while the high school students are wearing a T-shirt and shorts when temperatures finally top the 60-degree mark.

The past few weeks have been tough on most of the area baseball, soccer and softball teams that have braved the elements to attempt to get their games played.

Kudos to the brave-hearted fans of the aforementioned teams.

Count yourself lucky if your favorite local squad headed south over Spring Break such as the baseball teams did from Aurora Central Catholic (Tenn.), Elgin Academy (S.C.), Westminster Christian (Fla.), St. Charles North (Fla.), Kaneland (Ala.); and ACC, Dundee-Crown, Hampshire, Jacobs and South Elgin softball teams who traveled to Tennessee.

If forecasts are accurate, coaches, fans and players are going to have until next week for improved weather conditions.

Beginning Tuesday, the predicted high temperatures for the remainder of the week are 43, 38, 41, 31 and 39 degrees, respectively.

Ugh.

Here are a few highlights from the first few weeks of the baseball/softball campaign:

North Stars aces: St. Charles North senior pitchers Jillian Waslawski and Nick Skurka each tossed no-hitters for their respective softball and baseball teams.

Waslawski retired the first 20 batters she faced during her 7-inning no-hitter in the North Stars' 4-0 victory over Waubonsie Valley on March 22. The right-hander came within an out of perfection before the 21st batter she faced reached on an infield error.

Meanwhile, Skurka pitched a 5-inning no-hitter during the North Stars' 15-0 triumph over Walnut Hills (Ohio) on March 27 in Cocoa Beach, Fla.

The left-hander faced 16 batters, one more than the minimum, recording 8 strikeouts with 1 walk.

Last May, Skurka pitched a perfect game during the North Stars' 12-0, 5-inning win over Elgin.

Diamond nuggets: The season is still young but St. Charles North's baseball team could be headed for its fourth consecutive 30-win season if last week's results are any indication.

Coach Todd Genke's North Stars won 4 of 5 games during their first foray to Florida, outscoring opponents by a staggering 62-17 margin behind the hitting of seniors Justin Dunne, Steven Hamer, Sean Nemetz, Tommy Nelsen, Christian Erickson, sophomore Ryan Thiesse, freshman Nick DeMarco, and pitching of Skurka, Hamer, Erickson and senior southpaw Erik Larson.

On the other side of town, St. Charles East (1-4-1) has been somewhat snakebit over its first 6 games. Three of the Saints' losses were 1-run setbacks at the hands of Palatine (2-1), Prospect (1-0) and Lyons Township (6-5 in 8 innings).

Opening day: Good luck to several locals preparing for Thursday's first pitch of the Minor League Baseball season.

The list includes Crystal Lake Central's Connor Sadzeck, a right-handed pitcher with the Round Rock Express (Texas) in Triple-A; Dundee-Crown's Ryan Court, an infielder with the Iowa Cubs in Triple-A; St. Charles East's Wes Benjamin, a left-handed pitcher with the Frisco Roughriders (Texas) in Double-A; Marmion's Connor Riley, a right-handed pitcher with the Burlington Bees (Iowa) in Class A; and Marmion's Alex Troop, a left-handed pitcher with the Hagerstown Suns (Md.) in Class A.

Sadzeck, a 6-7, 240-pounder, finished 4-8 with 111 strikeouts in 93 2/3 innings last season at Frisco, while Benjamin, 24, went 10-7 with a 3.94 ERA for 2017 Carolina League co-champion Down East at advanced Class A last year.

Sadzeck and Benjamin are members of the Texas Rangers' organization.

Court, 29, batted .263 with 10 home runs and 44 RBI for the Boston Red Sox' AAA squad at Pawtucket last season.

Riley, 22, went 2-2 with 36 strikeouts in 31 innings last season at the Rookie League and Class A levels while Troop, 21, compiled a 2.79 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 38 2/3 innings last season at 3 levels in the Washington Nationals' system.

Condolences: I was stunned by the news of the death of Montini basketball coach Daryl Thomas last Wednesday.

Thomas, 52, played on Indiana University's NCAA Division I national championship basketball team in 1987 for legendary coach Bob Knight and starred in high school at St. Joseph in Westchester.

After reading Daily Herald writer Dave Oberhelman's story on Thomas' sudden passing last week, it dawned on me that I covered his final game - Montini's 89-78 Class 3A regional championship loss to Burlington Central last month.

"When you give up 89 points in a high school game, you're in trouble," Thomas said after the game.

I'll remember the gentle giant for his quick wit.

"It was nice yelling at ya," Thomas joked to the three referees as they left the gym following Montini's 56-50 win over ACC in 2017.

You can reach Craig Brueske at csb4k@hotmail.com.