Rainouts benefiting offenses

Guess it was one of those weeks.

With the rain finally disappearing for an extended period of time, a deluge of runs fell upon baseball teams instead.

A total of about 60 games were played by 28 area schools where at least one team scored double-digit runs. Many times, both teams scored 10 runs or more. Based on a number of factors, coaches believe the barrage was inevitable.

"I think the wind had something to do with it, the pitching," said Addison Trail coach Paul Parpet. "The games were backed up and backed up, and that strung out the pitching. When that happens, you're going to see teams score a lot of runs."

Most baseball fields face out to the northeast. Southerly winds accompanied last week's warmup, which meant the gusts were blowing out of most ballparks.

That, coupled with struggling defenses, meant bad news for pitchers.

Rainouts in prior weeks caused a mass of rescheduled games, forcing teams to play as many as seven games in six days last week. In turn teams had to come up with at least five or six pitchers to put on the mound.

No high school pitching staff is deep enough to absorb that kind of workload without a few runs being scored.

In fact Waubonsie Valley was the only area team to not play a game in which at least 10 runs were scored last week. That included two games that went to extra innings.

Speaking of hitting: Lake Park senior catcher Mario Fearon just enjoyed a week that'd look pretty good as an entire season.

Fearon went 8-for-13 in five games, driving in at least one run in every game.

Saving the best for last on Saturday, Fearon and the Lancers scored 10 seventh-inning runs to rally for an 18-12 victory over Buffalo Grove. Fearon hit a grand slam in the seventh -- his second grand slam of the game -- to give him 9 RBI on 3 hits.

In all Fearon had 3 doubles, a triple, 2 home runs and 16 RBI. He kept his hot hitting going in Monday's 7-6 win over Waubonsie Valley when he blasted a 3-run homer, then added a pair of doubles the next day.

Through Wednesday he had 31 RBI.

"Saturday was just incredible," said Lancers coach Dan Colucci. "But when you see the way he's swinging the bat, it's really not that hard to believe."

The great outdoors: Postponed games rarely equate to better baseball down the road.

As games get backed up and need to be rescheduled, that leaves fewer days off for teams. Games are played virtually every day, leaving no time for practice.

"You can try to yell things to your players during games, but it's not the same as working on something in a practice situation," said West Chicago coach John Walters.

West Chicago enjoyed a rare day off last Friday, and Walters used it to his advantage. He had the Wildcats practice for nearly three hours, pounding home the fundamentals through a series of simulated situations.

It was just the second time the Wildcats had been able to practice outside all season.

Walters saw the difference in Monday's 6-5 win over Wheaton Warrenville South. Four bunt singles were executed to perfection, catcher Dave Sampiller threw out two runners trying to steal second base and the Wildcats completed a game-ending double play when left fielder Rhett Gunderson dove for a catch and threw to second base.

"I think that one practice made a huge difference," Walters said. "Just working on different things for a few hours really paid off for us."

Small success: The Driscoll/Benedictine Small School Invitational proved to be a success as 10 teams from throughout the state gathered Saturday in Lisle to give fans a look at some of the top talent in Class 1A and 2A.

"Benedictine was so amazing to work with, they really helped make it be a very successful event," said Driscoll coach Sean Bieterman.

Five of the teams -- Wilmington, Marissa, Herscher, Illinois Valley Central and Driscoll -- represented eight Class A championships. The final game of the day between the Highlanders and IVC represented a rematch between 2006 semifinalists.

The five-game event went so well, Bieterman's hoping to make it a small-school tradition in the area.

"Every team that was there expressed interest in coming back," he said. "I'd love to do it again."