Mundelein wins a wild one
The best word to describe Saturday's Mundelein regional baseball final might be unconventional.
The host Mustangs scored on a balk, error and a bloop double that dropped between four Highland Park fielders to take an 8-3 lead in the fourth inning.
Then with 2 strikes and two out in the top of the seventh inning, Highland Park's No. 9 hitter tied the score against Mundelein ace Ben Mahar.
Finally, after the Mustangs loaded the bases with one out, a grounder by their own No. 9 hitter, Ryan Black, brought home pinch runner Chris Maranto to give Mundelein a thrilling 9-8 victory.
The Mustangs (25-10) will face Stevenson in the Barrington sectional semifinals on Wednesday. Mundelein's streak of five straight regional titles was snapped last year.
"It was crazy and it kind of mirrors our season, to be honest with you," coach Todd Parola said. "It's been a very unique season. It started with a torn meniscus, we've had a ruptured spleen, we've had two sprained ankles, we've had some athletic code violations. So this game kind of mirrors the whole season."
Parola even admitted he wasn't sure if this group of players had it in them to win another regional.
"We kind of went in the tank a few weeks ago," he joked. "I thought this senior group, when they graduated, they turned in their baseball stuff. They proved me wrong. I guess I'll have to change some vacation plans next week."
In Thursday's regional semifinal win over Hersey, Highland Park (20-12-1) scored 9 runs in the top of the seventh inning after trailing 3-1.
The Giants roared from behind again, with the key hit a 3-run homer by junior Chase Cunniff in the fifth that made it 8-7.
Mundelein lefty Matt Risdon retired the side in order in the sixth. When he gave up an infield single with one out in the seventh, Parola summoned Mahar, who threw nearly 100 pitches on Wednesday.
After a strikeout, Highland Park's Zach Lessem put together a heroic at-bat. He started 0-2, evened the count, fouled off two pitches, went full and then hit a slow grounder to third. When the throw to first was late and wild, Zach Zucker came around to score the tying run.
"He put up a good fight," Mahar said. "I threw him some good pitches and he hit them. They're a scrappy team. They deserved it just as much as we did."
In the bottom of the seventh, Mahar walked with one out and was replaced by pinch-runner Maranto. Austin Ozog followed with a single up the middle to put runners on first and third before Jon Devito was walked intentionally.
The Giants brought Tyler Goldstein over from third base to pitch. He coaxed a grounder from Black. It would have been a close play at the plate, but the ball bounced past the shortstop to end the game.
"He's got a nice breaker (curve)," Black said of Goldstein. "I saw it twice. It was nice seeing it the first time, so I could get a bat on it the second time."
"As a coach, you can't be any more proud of a group of kids," said Highland Park coach Eddie Pieczynski. "It's a funny game. Sometimes things happen. You can never look at one play (to decide) in a baseball game, especially a game that is 9-8."
Mundelein opened the early lead on solo homers by Risdon and Devito, then a 2-run double by Billy McMahon.