Waubonsie gobbles up regional title

Just west of St. Charles East's baseball field, the Saints football program held their annual Battle of the Big Butts Thursday afternoon.

So when a big roar went up about the same time Kevin Kirchner slid across home plate with the first run in Waubonsie Valley's 3-2 win in the St. Charles East regional championship game, it seemed half of Aurora was excited about the Warriors' first trip to the Elite Eight since 1998.

Turns out much of the noise came from the crowd watching the watermelon eating contest, tire throw and other fun events between football's most overlooked position - linemen.

That didn't mean there wasn't a large turnout of Warrior baseball fans with plenty to cheer about, such as:

* Starting pitcher Ryne Gill, who blanked the Saints through 6 innings. After a leadoff walk to start the game, the left-hander retired 17 of the next 18 hitters, including 13 straight entering the seventh.

"He pitched pretty well all summer long," Waubonsie Valley coach Dan Fezzuoglio said. "He's proving to us he can make big pitches and get people out."

The 13th-seeded Saints (11-16) finally got to Gill with 2 runs in the seventh. A two-out error made it a 3-2 game and put runners at second and third, but Gill kept his poise and struck out the final batter.

Gill, who had 3 hits in Wednesday's victory, credited his four-seam fastball.

"Got a little nervous at the end," Gill said. "It's exciting. We want to try to win it."

* Third baseman Sam Carius. After chasing down a foul pop that sent him crashing into the left-field fence in the first inning, Carius smacked a 2-run double into the teeth of a strong wind in the third inning. That hit proved to be the difference.

"What a hard-working kid and he's never satisfied," Fezzuoglio said.

* An attitude adjustment this summer, according to their coach. After struggling recently getting everyone on the same page, Fezzuoglio couldn't be happier with the way his second-seeded Warriors have played, especially the past two weeks.

"Our last couple years have been pretty trying on us with issues and getting wins," Fezzuoglio said. "The first meeting we had we said we have to put our selfishness away and start acting as a team and they started to do that. And all of a sudden they started turning it around and believing in themselves."

So while football season might be fast approaching, there's still a week left for summer baseball. Waubonsie Valley (24-12) will play Oak Park at 9 a.m. Monday at North Central College.

"This is a great group of kids," Fezzuoglio said. "This summer they have worked very hard and they deserve to be where they are at."

St. Charles East couldn't quite cap a great week of baseball. The Saints knocked off West Aurora and No. 1 seed Naperville North before blanking Geneva 13-0 to reach the regional final.

Saints starter Tom Laudadio held the Warriors to 5 hits in 5 innings.

"The week was very nice," St. Charles East coach Mark Foulkes said. "Today I thought Tom pitched a very good ballgame for us but hitting wise we didn't show up to hit today and that's a credit to Waubonsie Valley. I was very impressed with (Gill) and always impressed with the job Coach Fess does."

The Saints, who last reached the summer state tournament in 2005, managed only 2 hits and 1 earned run against Gill, a senior who threw 62 of his 106 pitches for strikes. Evan Prose and Johnathan Erickson singled for St. Charles East.

"They played better than us," Foulkes said. "I give them all the credit today. They are a very well run program that is going to do a great job next week."