Richardson picks Nebraska
It's going to get a little easier to keep track of how the great St. Charles North baseball players are doing in college.
Zach Hirsch is headed there this fall to begin his college career, and last month senior-to-be Ryan Richardson announced he's also going to play his college baseball for the Cornhuskers.
Richardson, a hard-hitting shortstop who hit nearly .500 as a junior, had numerous reasons for picking Nebraska.
"The tradition they have, the success they have, the coaches are amazing, really good character people," Richardson said. "From what they tell me the team has good character. The campus is great, the facilities are amazing. Just the total package."
Richardson, who said he might major in journalism, picked Nebraska over Michigan and Coastal Carolina.
Waubonsie Valley 10, Oswego East 9: Waubonsie Valley's baseball team had to love the change in the weather.
Not the switch from sunny and hot to cold and rainy. Rather, the change from cold bats to hot.
Trailing Oswego East 6-0 after three innings Wednesday, the top-seeded Warriors rallied for a 10-9 victory that sends them into the St. Charles East summer league regional final at 4 p.m. today.
Waubonsie Valley (27-14) will play St. Charles North (18-7), which beat St. Charles East 11-1.
With one out and two men on base in the bottom of the seventh inning, Sam Carius' sinking liner to left got past Oswego East's diving left fielder. As the ball rolled to the fence, Mike Murphy scored the tying run followed by Eric Sousanes with the game-winner.
"I just really wanted to put the ball into play," said Carius, a third baseman who went 2-for-3 with a home run, double, 2 walks and 4 RBI. "I had two strikes, I wanted to get a couple runs in. And when I made contact, I just knew it."
- David Oberhelman
Volleyball
Batavia's Hoffman heads to Croatia: Northern Illinois volleyball sophomore setter Kristin Hoffman (Batavia) has been selected to the Youth National A2 Program and will compete in the 2009 Global Challenge Tournament in Pula, Croatia this month.
"I'm really happy for Kristin," said NIU head coach Ray Gooden, who went to the same tournament as a coach of one of the teams last July. "It gives not only Kristin, but our NIU volleyball program a tremendous opportunity to broaden our volleyball and cultural minds."
Hoffman, who is the fourth Huskie under Gooden to compete or coach internationally, was selected from a group of over 100 eligible players to train with the Youth National A2 Program. The team consists of players that are 20 years-old or younger and are either in a university program or college bound this fall. In order to be in that pool of players, Hoffman attended the National Team open tryout in Colorado Springs, Colo. in February along with teammates Maddie Hughes (St. Charles North), Allison McGlaughlin and Meagan Schoenrock, while Gooden served as a court coach and evaluator.
The Youth National A2 team will train for three days in Switzerland before they head to Pula for the tournament. Hoffman's trip overseas will conclude in Venice, Italy, and she will return to the states on July 25.