Meadows keeps rolling; Hoffman wins pair by 1 run
Rolling Meadows is finally on a roll.
Jake Trojan went 6½ innings for his first varsity victory and Kyle Gaedele led the way offensively as the Mustangs extended their winning streak to 4 games by hanging on to beat visiting Streamwood 6-5 in Saturday's nonconference baseball game.
Trojan allowed 4 earned runs on 7 hits with Scott Hempel coming in for the save. Gaedele went 3-for-3 with a 3-run homer and an RBI double as Meadows (6-4) led 6-0 after two innings.
Hoffman sweeps Mather: Hoffman Estates (5-5) improved to 4-0 in 1-run games as it beat Mather 3-2 in 8 innings and 5-4 in the nonconference doubleheader.
Pat Johnson took a no-hitter into the seventh in the opener but Mather rallied to force extra innings. Mike Kiviranta got the relief win on his RBI in the eighth.
In the second game, a sixth-inning squeeze bunt by Justin Harris turned out to be a huge insurance run as Mather scored a run in the seventh.
Mike Eisele had 2 RBI in each game and Jake Fett had 2 hits in each game.
Schaumburg 9, Lane Tech 2: George Kalousek hit his third homer and Dominick D'Agata and Dave Compitello went 3-for-3 as Schaumburg (9-2) had 13 hits in the nonconference win.
D'Agata had 2 of the Saxons' 5 doubles. Alec Fontanez threw a complete-game 8-hitter with 3 strikeouts and 3 walks.
Leyden sweeps Morton: Another pair of late comebacks led Leyden (10-2, 6-1) past visiting Morton 5-3 and 5-4 in the West Suburban Gold sweep.
Leyden trailed 3-0 in the opener but scored all of its runs in the sixth. Jonathan Weaver (3-1) went the distance and didn't allow an earned run with 7 strikeouts and 1 walk.
The Eagles improved to 4-0 in 1-run games in the nightcap as they spotted Morton 4 runs in the first but came back with 2 runs each in the sixth and seventh. Cam Stephens and Joe Natale went 2-for-4.
Elk Grove 11, Maine S. 5: Tony Logli homered and Chris D'Angelo and Colin Semler went 3-for-4 for Elk Grove (7-8) in the nonconference win. D'Angelo doubled and tripled and Kyle Pfister went 5½ innings for the win.
Prospect splits: Prospect (8-6) extended its winning streak to six games by beating Glenbrook South 8-7 in the opener as John Coen had his second game-winning hit in as many days in the bottom of the seventh.
Coen, Jason Leblebijian and Shane Uhle had 2 hits apiece.
Prospect tied the second game with a 3-run seventh but lost 9-8 in 10 innings. Leblebijian, Griffin Rebecca and Miles Osei had 3 hits apiece.
Barrington splits: Barrington (8-7) rebounded from a 7-2 loss to powerful New Trier to beat Rockford Guilford 13-3 in 6 innings.
Mark Minner (3 RBI), Steve Janezic, Tim Oakley and Bryan Grabowski had 2 hits apiece as Barrington gave Russ Zeisloft the victory with an 8-run sixth.
Gus Handler was 2-for-3 for the Broncos against New Trier.
Conant 10, Maine East 0: Sean Smith threw a 2-hitter and Conant (5-5) pounded out 17 hits in the nonconference road win.
Chris Hoffman led the way with 2 doubles and 2 RBI and Austin Wright had 2 RBI.
Hersey 13, Maine West 3: Hersey (7-7) broke open a 1-run game with a 7-run fifth to end a 3-game losing streak. Bobby Gehm, Mike Toljanic, Pat Hyde and Jake Knauss each had 2 hits as the Huskies finished with 12.
Sean Willett went 2-for-3 for Maine West (6-3).
Lake Park 18, BG 12: A pair of homers by Zach Borenstein and homers by Mike Ricciardi and James Hurley gave Buffalo Grove (5-5) a 4-run lead going into the top of the seventh.
But the Bison were hit with a 10-run onslaught that included Mario Fearon's second grand slam of the game. Lake Park took advantage of 6 walks and 2 hit batters in the final inning.
Borenstein had 5 RBI and Ricciardi and Hurley (3-for-5) each had 3 RBI.
Benet sweeps St. Viator: Four homers in the second game weren't enough for St. Viator (8-6, 1-3) to avoid an East Suburban Catholic Conference home sweep to Benet -- 11-1 in 6 innings and 10-7.
Phil Bar, Brett Kay, Eric Huber and Jack Meyer homered for the Lions but Benet overcame a 5-4 deficit with a 5-run sixth.
Highland Pk. 4, Wheeling 1: Two-run homers in the third and seventh were enough for Highland Park to get past Wheeling (2-6), which had only 2 hits and broke the shutout in the seventh.
Badminton
A year ago, at last year's Wheeling badminton invitational, the host Wildcats defeated powerhouse Fremd -- the eventual Mid-Suburban League and state champion -- by 1 point.
At this year's meet, Fremd edged Wheeling 32-30 Saturday to capture the team crown .
Downers Grove North finished third with 27 points, while Elk Grove placed fourth with 20 points.
As expected, Wheeling and Fremd were strong up and down their lineups.
"This was our lineup for conference," said Fremd coach Bob Hanson. "We have a very young team peaking at the right time. This team is peaking and I think we're on top of our game."
At the beginning of the season, Hanson wasn't sure who was playing where beyond his first four players. Now he has a better idea of who will play where.
"I just think that's experience," Hanson said. "They're getting experience every time. Today, our first three (singles players) only lost one match."
The match of the day was between Fremd's Jenna Langhorst -- who will likely earn one of the two first-place seeds for this weekend's MSL meet at Wheeling -- and Wheeling's Ashley Lepcin, who could easily earn the second first-singles spot.
"We took one match from (Fremd) today," said Wheeling coach Carl Watschke. "We faced them seven times and won one match.
"Our second doubles team, we just put them together and they beat Downers Grove. We're happy. We could have done a lot better. We made a lot of mistakes. Against Fremd and Downers Grove, you can't make mistakes."
Langhorst unleashed some unreturnable smashes that kept Lepcin moving around the court and on the defensive.
"I know she's not as strong as she used to be," said Langhorst, who knew that Lepcin is still not 100 percent after suffering a knee injury early in the season. "It was hard for her to move around. She pushed me back. I just tried to keep her moving."
"She smashed a lot," Lepcin said. "I just couldn't get anything back today. I was fine. I just wasn't playing my 'A' game. I missed a lot of my shots."
-- Kathy Rudolph
Girls track
Kelsey Ontko and McKinzie Schulz figured if they could not best Shakeia Pinnick, then train with her.
The twin standouts for Benet credited the Waubonsie Valley superstar for their Herculean efforts Saturday afternoon at the Ram Invitational, the girls track and field meet at Glenbard East in Lombard.
"(Pinnick) is an amazing athlete," Schulz said of her periodic training partner.
"I have been training with Shakeia Pinnick (with the Aurora Flyers travel club)," said the Duke-bound Ontko. "She takes it to another level. I can't tell you how much it has helped my sprinting."
The Redwings' duo combined for three individual victories and were runners-up in the three races Pinnick captured -- the 200 meters, 800 meters and 300 hurdles -- as Benet won the 16-team invite with 123 points.
Waubonsie Valley and Neuqua Valley tied for second with 93 points.
Glenbard South, which had Libby O'Brien winning the open 400 meters and anchoring two relays to victories, was fourth with 60 points; Naperville Central, featuring champion discus thrower Jessica Carter, had 58 for fifth.
Libertyville edged Schaumburg, and West Chicago bettered Glenbard East to round out the local teams.
Libertyville outscored Schaumburg 40-31 but the outcome could have favored the Saxons if not for a mishap in the 800 relay.
Senior Veronica Painter crossed the line in first place, but the Saxons' victory was nullified when the judges determined the first exchange exceeded the zone.
To make matters worse for Painter, the senior, a pre-race favorite in the 100 meters, failed to advance out of the preliminaries after falling over an early hurdle.
"The first for everything had to be today," said Painter, who received some solace with a third-place effort in the 200 meters. "To me we still got first (in the relay). I'm a 200 person -- it fits well."
Britten Petrey ended the Saxons' afternoon on a high note: the freshman was second in the 1,600 meters and led off the third-place 1,600 relay that Jordan Wagner anchored to third.
"(The mile time) was a little slower than last week, but I thought I did pretty well," Petrey said.
Ontko and Schulz were true workhorses for the first-ever Benet victory in the esteemed invite: the former led a 1-2 sweep in the 100 dash, eclipsed 18 feet to claim the long jump, and snared 16 more points with second-place results in the 200 and 400 meters.
Schulz, meanwhile, was equally brilliant in showcasing her versatility: the sophomore doubled up in the 800 and 1,600 meters, added the improbable 300 hurdles to her menu and concluded her day by anchoring the Redwings' 1,600 relay to second place.
"I feel even better when I'm doing more races," said Schulz, who never surrendered the initiative in claiming the 1,600 in 5 minutes, 18.7 seconds.
Ontko edged freshman teammate Kaileen Healy -- the unlikely winner of the triple jump -- to win the 100 in 12.1 seconds, and was only behind returning all-staters Pinnick and O'Brien, respectively, in the 200 and 400.
"I opened up a new door today," Ontko said. "Maybe I can qualify for state in the quarter. I can go even further (in the long jump)."
Maria Scheet claimed the final Benet victory with a 10-foot-6 effort in the pole vault.
"I know we worked our kids hard," Benet coach Scott Brooks said. "These kids making the sacrifices for the team was the difference."
Pinnick made her debut in the outdoor 800, where the junior was clocked in a scintillating 2:14.5; the two-time defending state runner-up in the 300 hurdles was a solitary figure down the stretch in that event, and Ontko never seriously threatened in the 200.
"I was working on my splits (in the 800)," Pinnick said. "When the time comes to run faster, I will."
Sophomore Michelle Higgins made it a clean sweep for Waubonsie Valley by winning the shorter of the two hurdles events, which also featured a third-place showing from Ayo Adewole.
State veterans Monika Jakutyte and Katie Vuckovich led Neuqua Valley with wins in the high jump and shot put, respectively, and the Wildcats other championships came in the 800 and 3,200 relays.
"(The season) is getting down to crunch time," Vuckovich said.
Kim Iacobazzi, Sarah Schumacher, Sarah Englehardt and Erin O'Brien joined Libby O'Brien as sprint-relay stalwarts for Glenbard South.
"That's what I have been working on--a fast 200 and hanging on from there," O'Brien said of her triumph at 400 meters.
Annette Eichenberger and Caitlin Groeper were the primary point-earners for West Chicago and Glenbard East.
The lone non-DuPage County title was secured by Libertyville distance runner Hannah Reilly in the 3,200 run.
Reilly reversed a 10-meter deficit to Naperville Central sophomore Shelby Pealer with an event-winning kick, falling a second short of her personal best in 11:39.7.
"That's kind of how I run," Reilly said of her late push down the backstretch. "I was hoping to do a little better (time-wise), but I'm happy with the outcome."
The Wildcats' 3,200 relay of Lisa Branding, Alyssa Corrigan, Sarah Farish and Anne Strychalski lowered its seed time by over four seconds to place second in the event.
Corrigan later skipped the open 800 meters to concentrate on the 300 hurdles, and the junior was third.
"It was my best time this season," Corrigan said of her clocking in 47.3, a tenth behind second place. "I didn't run the 800 to save my legs."
Branding concluded the Wildcats' individual track scoring with a fourth-place finish in the 1,600 meters.
"I tried not to get caught in the pack," Branding said. "I was really excited. It was my best time this year."
It was an entirely different result for the Libertyville team versus what transpired a year ago.
"We did a lot better today than last year when we almost finished last," Libertyville coach Tom Bizosky said. "We have a nice balance between the distance and sprint relays."
-- Kevin McGavin
Soccer
BG 1, Glenbrook North 0:ΠJordyn Lucas collected 2 saves for the Bison.
BG also defeated Payton 2-0 as Lucas collected 3 saves.
Fremd 2, WW South 2:ΠAustin Henning had one of the goals for Fremd (7-0-1).