Arlington stays alive with dramatic 11-inning win

Manager Lloyd Meyer probably summed it up best after his Arlington Heights team pulled out a dramatic 11-inning 8-7 victory on Friday over Palatine in the semifinals of the Cook County American Legion tournament.

"We don't let down, these kids don't quit," said the veteran manager. "I think that's why we've got a good program."

Arlington, which rebounded from a 4-0 deficit after 51/2 innings, trailed 7-5 going into the bottom of the 11th.

Tyler Gregory's 2-run double with two outs scored Eric Paulson and Joey DePaulis for the 7-5 advantage.

But all six players who batted for resilient Arlington reached base in the bottom of the inning, capped by Dan Lauria's single to right which brought home starting pitcher Jon Carlson for the winning run.

Arlington (27-10) and Palatine (21-7-1) needed wins to stay alive in the double-elimination tourney. However, because Palatine is hosting the state tournament at Recreation Park it receives a berth.

Arlington, which has won 10 of the last 11 tourneys and four straight, advanced to today's championship round.

But its opponent is still to be determined.

Elk Grove (24-11-1), undefeated in the tourney, and Glenview (19-11-1) will finish their semifinal from Friday night at 9:30 a.m. today.

The game was suspended because of rain with Elk Grove leading 7-2 in the bottom of the seventh.

If Elk Grove wins, it would play Arlington for the title immediately following. Arlington would need to defeat Elk Grove twice for the crown.

If Glenview rallies for a win this morning, it would then play Arlington. The winner of that game would then play Elk Grove for the championship later in the day.

In Arlington's tense victory, Bradley-bound shortstop Jason Leblebijian reached base in all 6 of his at-bats with 3 singles, 2 walks and a hit by pitch.

Arlington's big 11th inning started with an infield single by Brett Kay (4-for-6), a walk to Johnny Coen and the hit by pitch to Leblebijian to load the bases.

The Kentucky-bound Carlson (3 RBI) then singled to left to bring home Kay. However, Palatine left fielder Matt Johnsen threw out the second runner trying to score as catcher Gregory made the tag.

Leblebijian came home on a wild pitch.

After a walk to Kevin Serna, the lefty Lauria delivered his game-winning, one-out single with Carlson on third base.

"I just wanted to make contact in that situation," Lauria said. "It was a back-and-forth game. No one on our team quit."

"The whole game we were fighting back," said Leblebijian, whose previous best was reaching base five times in a game. "Even when Gregory had that big hit for those 2 runs in the top of the 11th, I wasn't worried. I knew we could fight back."

Brendan King earned the win for Arlington, pitching the last 3 innings.

Clint Terry suffered the loss for Palatine, which outhit Arlington 17-13. The left-hander threw the final 41/3 innings.

Blue Jays starter Mike Schoolcraft shut out Arlington for the first five innings.

"Clint (pitched 9 innings on Tuesday) was the right guy there at the end," said Palatine coach Jeff Ryder. "And obviously Tyler's big bomb was something special, but we still have to figure out how to close out these games."

Nick Addison went 4-for-5 with a triple and double for Palatine, while teammates Zenon Kolakowski and Mike Tauchnan had doubles.

Eric Walantas (2-3) gave up 4 hits through the first 6 innings for Elk Grove.

Cleanup hitter Tim Massat had a single, 2 walks and an RBI groundout.

Derek Wojcik and Chris D'Angelo belted doubles for the Red Sox, who will make third appearance in four years in the championship round under coach Brian Mucha.

The Red Sox lost to Arlington 17-15 and 6-2 during the regular season but beat the hosts 4-1 this week in the tourney.

"Eric (Walantas) did what he needed to do, especially in this type of weather." Mucha said. "He threw strikes. We just don't want to dump a game. We want to put ourselves in a position where someone has to beat us twice (to lose the championship)."

Second Division

Getting into the driver's seat of the Second Division American Legion tournament was a pretty harrowing ride for Barrington on Friday at Wheaton.

Fulton had a 3-run lead with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and twice was a strike away from a victory. But Jack Scheffler's crazy bases-clearing double capped a stunning 6-5 comeback that now has Barrington (17-9) 1 win away from its first state tournament berth since 1998.

"Probably the best emotional thing I've ever seen," said Barrington coach Pat Wire, whose team overcame 5 errors. "It was unbelievable."

Barrington doesn't play again until noon Sunday and would have to be beaten twice in the double-elimination tourney. Wheaton plays Ottawa in an elimination game today and the winner then plays Fulton.

A walk to Johnny Day and a single by Chris Holke started the ninth but the next two hitters struck out. Pinch hitter Sean Buchholz then lined an RBI single to make it 5-3 and Bryant Sullivan battled back from a 1-2 count for a walk.

The lefty-hitting Scheffler then hit a hard grounder up the middle and with the Fulton center fielder over in the gap he couldn't cut off the ball.

"All of a sudden I see Sullivan running around from first base and I thought, 'Oh my gosh, we're going to win the game,' '' Wire said. "It was just an amazing, emotional game.''

Starter Brendon Schumacher threw 120 pitches in 81/3 innings, and winner Chris Rogers stranded a runner at third with 2 strikeouts. Wire expects to start Buchholz on Sunday.