Neighborhood Sports
Baseball, softball
Hitting clinic: Professionals at The Sports Academy, 355 Hastings Drive, Buffalo Grove in Chevy Chase Business Park will work with athletes on aspects of fine-tuning bat mechanics for optimal performance. Sessions will be held from noon to 1 p.m. for second- to fourth-graders and 4 to 5 p.m. for fifth- to eighth-graders Jan. 27 to Feb. 24. The cost is $150.
For a registration form or more information, call TSA at (847) 279-3934 or e-mail info@tsanorthwest.com.
Registration: Walk-in registration for the 2008 Prospect Heights/Wheeling Youth Baseball and Softball League season will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Jan. 24 at the Gary Morava Recreation Center, 110 W. Camp McDonald Road, Prospect Heights. Registration also scheduled for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 19 at the Wheeling Rec Center, 333 W. Dundee Road, Wheeling. Visit www.phwybs.org or call (847) 622-5311.
Basketball
AAU tryouts: The Netburners will hold tryouts for boys and girls on Feb. 29 at Birchwood Recreation Center, 435 W. Illinois Ave., Palatine at the following times.
• Fourth and fifth grade girls and boys -- 6 to 7 p.m.
• Sixth and seventh grade girls and boys -- 7 to 8 p.m.
• Eighth, ninth and 10th grade girls -- 8 to 9 p.m.
The registration fee is $10 at the door or $5 by e-mail before Feb. 27. For registration, call Lonnie Welch at (847) 338-7099, e-mail Lo nie.netburners@gmail.com or visit Netburners.com.
Hockey
Patriots hockey: The Stevenson Patriots Junior Varsity hockey team played the Glenbrook North Spartans and the Barrington Broncos, both of which came into the weekend undefeated.
The first of the two games played at Twin Rinks ended in a 3-3 tie. Glenbrook broke on top early in the first period but the Patriots bounced back with two quick goals. On the first, Tyler St. Martin scored with assists from Ricky Razdolsky and Jake Gould. The play began with a blind pass by Razdolsky from the Stevenson blue line to Gould just as he crossed the Glenbrook blue line. St. Martin and Gould teamed up again four minutes later, with Gould getting the marker as his linemates kept the puck in the offensive zone. Then Razdolsky scored on a backhander after assists from Gould and St. Martin, to extend the Patriot's lead to 3-1 early in the second period.
The Spartans began to apply more offensive pressure throughout the period but goalie Josh Schmaren made several point blank saves to maintain the Patriots 3-1 lead heading into the final 14 minutes. Stevenson had two opportunities early in the third period which were foiled by Glenbrook's goalie and then after two more back to back saves by Schmaren the Spartans scored to narrow the lead to one with 9 minutes to play. Schmaren continued to hold the fort until Glenbrook scored on a fine drop pass and screen and a shot that Schmaren never saw. The game ended in the 3-3 tie. As a result, Stevenson remains one game behind Glenbrook in Metro North, having lost once, while Glenbrook remains undefeated.
In the second game of the weekend, Stevenson lost to Barrington 6-2 in an HIT conference game. Stevenson had the lead early as Gordon Ochi scored after a shot by Nick Fasano. Although Barrington tied the game early in the second period, Stevenson bounced back to retake the lead 2-1 on a wrist shot just inside the right post by Myles Lobus. But Barrington's team began to take control and scored 3 goals before the end of the second period to take a commanding 4-2 lead and eventually a 6-2 victory.