Varner will go to St. Joe
Following in the footsteps of her sister, Amy Varner will also play softball for Division II Saint Joseph College in Rensselaer, Ind.
Varner, who will be a senior four-year starting shortstop for Prospect, has announced her verbal commitment and will sign her letter of intent in early April.
Her sister Jenny, now coaching softball and teaching at Prospect, also played for Pumas coach Frank Wilkins, who is 156-176-1 in seven seasons. The Pumas are 25-21, 26-17 and 26-24 the last three years.
Amy Varner was an all-area selection a year ago, batting .453. Her 59 hits broke the school's single-season record during a record-breaking 30-5 campaign.
Varner gave three reasons for her decision to play softball for Saint Joseph, where she is considering a study in the environmental science field.
"No. 1, I really like the coach," she said. "I've known him for so many years. He's a really nice guy. No. 2, I like the smaller school atmosphere and No 3, it's close enough to home to where my parents (Dan and Anne) can come and watch a lot of games."
Barrington hockey: Varsity coach Rob Hutson and assistant Rich Perillo have led the Barrington Broncos Hockey Club to a memorable season that isn't over yet.
The Broncos completed the Metro Central regular season with a first-place finish and a 19-2-1 record. They followed up with a 4-0-1 record and another first-place finish in the Metro Central Scholastic Cup playoffs.
After earning a No. 6 ranking in state, the Broncos continued their momentum on Friday night in the Blackhawk Cup playoffs with a 5-1 victory over Naperville Central.
After trailing 1-0 at the end of the first period, the Broncos scored the next 5 goals. A trio of juniors started the onslaught at 13:07 of the second period as Billy Schmitz tied the game with assists from John Thomas and Geoff Hamilton.
Three minutes later, the senior line of Harrison Pinkus, Matt Spica and Gino Melone took control as Melone found Spica up ice. Spica drew the defender before dishing to Pinkus for the perfect finish and a 2-1 lead.
A nice pass from senior David Hirsch led to Schmitz's second goal of the night as he punched in his own rebound to make the score 3-1 at the end of two.
The Broncos extended their lead in the third period when senior Danny Condon got the assist on junior Kevin Kassulat's goal from 25 feet out to take a 4-1 lead. With the game winding down, Spica once again took a nice feed from Melone, fired a rocket shot that rebounded to senior Brad Kopp who went top shelf for the final goal of the contest.
Perhaps the most valuable player of the evening was junior goaltender Mitchell Saviola, who was superb in net, stopping 23 of 24 shots with help from his veteran defense. Naperville's lone goal came on a power play early in the first period.
Other standout performers for the Broncos were seniors Josh Eastham, Bryan Grabowski, Michael Kane and Will Murphy as well as juniors John Cywinski, Scott Karas, Michael Kobida and David Nolan.
Having advanced to the Elite Eight, the Broncos continue their quest for the state title with a 7 p.m. showdown tonight against perennial power Loyola Academy at the AHAI Hockey Center in Bensenville.
Also in contention is Barrington's No. 1-ranked junior varsity squad, which put together an undefeated regular season and is favored to win its second consecutive state title.
Mat matters: The Mid-Suburban League has announced its wrestling award winners for the 2007-08 season.
In the MSL West, wrestler of the year honors went to Palatine's Ross Grande and coach of the year honors to Bill Scully of Hoffman Estates.
In the MSL East, wrestler of the year went to Wheeling's Max Nowry and coach of the year went to Wheeling's Neal Weiner.