Compitello, Elk Grove roar to Cook County title

Elk Grove's American Legion baseball team was formed in 2000.

In less than a decade, the Red Sox have their first Cook County championship team.

And they did it against one of the true giants, Arlington Heights, which had won 10 of the last 11 Cook County tourneys and four straight.

Led offensively by Bradley-bound shortstop Dave Compitello's 5-for-5 performance, Elk Grove produced a 17-7 victory which ended in seven innings because of the 10-run rule at Recreation Park in Arlington Heights on Saturday.

"We've got a good hitting team," said Elk Grove coach Brian Mucha, who won a pair of Cook County championships in 2002 and '03 as a second baseman and left fielder for manager Lloyd Meyer's Arlington club. "And we showed it today."

Especially Compitello, who almost beat out a sacrifice bunt to go 6-for-6. The Schaumburg graduate had a triple, 3 doubles, a single and 3 RBI.

His former Saxons teammate, Kyle Pusateri, earned the win by throwing a 9-hitter with 2 strikeouts to catcher Tony Logli.

"I thought Kyle did a nice job mixing up his pitches," said Mucha, a Buffalo Grove and Elmhurst College grad whose career record is 110-38-2 in four years. "He does a good job locating his curveball."

The Red Sox (26-11-1), who lost to Arlington for the County title last year, made 3 errors behind the Carthage College sophomore-to-be.

"He (Pusateri) did a good job, he threw strikes," Compitello said. "We struggled at times behind him, but he's not going to lose confidence in us."

And the Red Sox never lost confidence at the plate.

After Arlington took a 6-4 lead with 5 runs in the bottom of the third, Elk Grove answered in the top of the fourth with 4 runs to grab the lead again.

Compitello and Colin Semler (3-for-5) each doubled in the inning.

But the slugging Red Sox were just getting started.

They exploded in the fifth, scoring 9 runs on 6 hits.

Derek Wojcik (2-for-5) started the big rally with a double down the left-field line. He and Dan Launhardt scored twice in the inning, while Chris D'Angelo, Semler, Tim Massat (3-for-5), George Kalousek (3-for-5), Logli and Compitello each crossed the plate.

Mucha and the Red Sox will begin play in the state tournament Wednesday at 11 a.m. against Rock Island at Recreation Park. The tourney is being hosted by Palatine.

"I'm proud of Brian (Mucha)." said Meyer, whose team finished 27-11. "He's one of my kids. He's done a good job. If we had to lose to anyone, I'd rather it be him.

"We have a good program and I'm really proud of my kids. We had a tough fight trying to come back from our first loss. And our pitching was not up to it because three of our kids had to pitch this week in high school games."

Meyer used Brendan King, Dominic Pugliese, Brian Bauer and Jack Mullenix on the mound Saturday.

Bradley-bound Jason Leblebijian continued his hot hitting for Arlington.

After reaching base in all 6 at-bats against Palatine on Friday, the Prospect grad started with a double and a single Saturday and finished 3-for-4.

Other multiple hitters for Arlington were Jon Carlson (2-for-4, double) and Kevin Serna (2-for-4).

"Leb (Leblebijian) had a good tournament," Meyer said.

"He's played well for the past three weeks. Jon Carlson pitched a great game earlier in the week. But it takes more than one or two guys. We were missing some kids because of other things that interfered. So we are going to have to refocus where we are going. We need some different philosophies every so often and we will make them. But I'm proud of my kids."

Earlier on Saturday, Elk Grove won its suspended game from Friday night.

The Red Sox, who led 7-2 when the game was called in the bottom of the seventh, held on for an 8-6 victory over Glenview.

D'Angelo singled and came home on a wild pitch for the Blue Jays' run in the eighth inning.

Since Elk Grove had not lost in the tourney, Arlington would have had to beat the Blue Jays twice in the double-elimination format.

"We wanted to get the first one," Compitello said. "We knew they didn't have a lot of pitching left. And we knew we'd see (Jon) Carlson on Sunday, and he's the last person we wanted to face."

The Blue Jays made sure there would be no second game when they put across 9 runs in the big fifth-inning rally.

"They (Arlington) are never out of a game," Mucha said. "I don't care if it's a 1-run, 5-run or 15-run lead. It doesn't matter. They are never out of it. Even with our 10-run lead, I didn't think for a second they were done."