Two titles for Lake Villa Pony team

Baseball

Tournament wins: The post-season Pony tournament team from Lake Villa recently swept their way to consecutive tournament titles.

In mid-July, Lake Villa went 5-0 en route to capturing The Eddie Mayfield Memorial Tournament held in their own backyard.

The team started off hot against Grayslake, as the first six batters all reached base with hits. Up 6-0 through one inning, the team ended with a 10-0 win. Game two of pool play matched Lake Villa up with Beach Park. A closely played game through six innings saw Lake Villa holding a 5-2 lead, but the boys erupted with an eight-run seventh to put the game at 13-2. In their final game of pool play, Lake Villa played Lake Zurich; although the All-Stars never trailed, Lake Zurich battled to the end as Lake Villa held on for a hard-fought 6-5 victory.

By going 3-0 in pool play the boys secured the top seed in their bracket. They were matched up with Gagewood, the second-place team in the other division. Lake Villa walked off with an 8-5 victory and a date in the championship game, where they met Lake Zurich, a familiar opponent. In another well-played game, the Lake Villa All-Stars outlasted the Lake Zurich Bears 6-3 and secured the tournament championship.

Lake Villa's second tournament took them to McHenry. In pool play the boys beat Lake Zurich 11-1, McHenry 14-1 and Arlington Heights 15-2.

By taking first place in their division, Lake Villa earned an automatic bid to the championship game against Lake in the Hills. The All-Stars took a 4-0 lead after two innings and won a 14-7 victory and their second tournament championship in as many tries.