Mattoon ousts Barrington
Barrington was facing a 6-run deficit and elimination from the American Legion baseball state tournament when first-year coach Pat Wire decided to get in a few faces Thursday.
"We didn't play well through four (innings) and I kind of got on my guys," Wire said. "I said, 'Listen guys, you don't get an opportunity like this too often. You're here now and you'll never forgive yourself if you don't go all out. You have to leave it all on the field.'"
Barrington responded by tying the game against Mattoon in the top of the fifth at Rec Park in Arlington Heights.
But Mattoon (35-3) answered to regain the lead and hold on for an 8-7 victory to eliminate Barrington (18-11) from its first state tourney trip since 1998.
"Our guys played hard and that's all you can ask for," Wire said. "I never felt like we were going to just be done and quit."
In the afternoon winner's bracket game, defending state champion Belleville (32-3) beat Rock Island 13-3. But an early-evening thunderstorm made the field unplayable and forced the postponement of Palatine (22-7) and Elk Grove (26-12) to 9 a.m. today at Rec Park.
The winner of that game comes back to face Belleville at 3:30 p.m. Elk Grove needs to win to stay alive.
Rock Island (27-5) will face Mattoon at noon in an elimination game. It is possible another game could be played at 7 p.m. as long as it didn't involve Palatine or Elk Grove, because Legion rules prohibit playing three games in one day.
Mattoon was looking to rebound quickly from the end of a 29-game winning streak in Wednesday's 12-3 loss to Palatine. But the prospect of a second straight loss to end its summer suddenly loomed after Barrington erupted in the fifth.
Bryant Sullivan, Brendon Schumacher, David Alameda and Jim Cook started it with singles. Tom Unak (4-for-5) and Chris Holke (2-for-5) also had singles and Bryan Grabowski tied it with a triple.
But Mattoon came right back to go ahead 8-6.
"Give them a lot of credit," Wire said. "We definitely had the momentum."
Barrington got within a run in the seventh when Unak singled and came around on Evansville-bound Johnny Day's sacrifice and Holke's single. Unak also provided one last glimmer of hope with a one-out single in the ninth after a strong relief effort where he allowed only 1 earned run in 41/3 innings.
"It was nice to see him do that," Wire said of Unak's rebound on the mound from a rough Wednesday start. "I'm happy for him."
Wire is also happy that Unak and Schumacher, who have graduated from high school, are among those eligible to return next year. Barrington will have a big hole to fill at third with the loss of Grabowski along with Day, Holke and Sullivan.
"It was the best year I've ever had," Wire said with a laugh of his first one in charge. "It was one heck of a year."
Babicz picks DePaul: Matt Babicz, who medaled in the shot put and discus in the Class 3A state track meet for Prospect, will continue his career at DePaul.
Babicz finished third in the discus and fifth in the shot. Only Kentucky-bound Dan Block of Lake Park and Huntley senior-to-be Division I prospect Marcus Popenfoose also medaled in both events.
Babicz had season-bests of 56 feet, 8 inches in the shot and 183-2 in the discus. He chose DePaul over Eastern Illinois.
Colucci to SE Missouri: Conant second baseman Bobby Colucci, an all-Mid-Suburban League pick and Daily Herald All-Area special mention selection, accepted a scholarship offer to Division I Southeast Missouri State.
Colucci, who has a 3.65 grade-point average, helped lead Conant to two regional titles in his three years as a varsity starter. He picked Southeast Missouri over offers from Indiana State, where his brother Tony plays, and Northern Kentucky.
Godawa excels on, off field: Valparaiso sophomore Steve Godawa, an all-area player who led Buffalo Grove to the Elite Eight in 2007, was named to the Horizon League All-American team.
Godawa went 3-0 with a 3.86 ERA and 2 saves and had 18 strikeouts and 4 walks in 231/3 innings. The accounting major also had a 3.92 GPA on a 4.0 scale.
Travel softball tryouts: Dream Big Athletics will have tryouts for its travel softball teams Sunday at McKenzie Field in Rolling Meadows.
The 10-and-under and 12-and-under teams will be from 1 p.m.-3 p.m. and the 14- , 16- and 18-and-under teams will be from 3 p.m.-6 p.m.
For more information call (847) 909-7304 or go to dreambigathletics.com.