Nazareth tops Streamwood for summer league title
Streamwood had the peak of Illinois high school baseball in its sight.
Thursday's mountain proved too hard to scale, though.
Ryan Powers' grand slam highlighted a 5-run Nazareth first inning, and the Roadrunners beat Streamwood 9-2 to win the IHSBCA Phil Lawler Summer Classic on Thursday at Benedictine University in Lisle.
Streamwood coach Steve Diversey hardly fretted that his team fell short in a bid for its first baseball championship.
"There's no negatives for us," Diversey said. "Every day this week was writing another chapter. Now everybody knows who Streamwood is."
The Sabres' backs were against the wall all week after Nazareth beat them in pool play Monday, but Streamwood stayed alive with three wins.
Nazareth loaded the bases in the bottom of the first Thursday with none out with a walk, bunt single and error. Powers fell behind in the count 0-2, then took a high fastball the opposite way for a grand slam to right and 4-0 lead.
"I was just trying to put a good piece of the bat on the ball," said Powers, tournament MVP with 8 RBI in four games. "He left it a little bit over the plate on the outside corner and I put the barrel on it. With the aluminum bat it goes a long way."
Pat Kelly later squeezed in Nazareth's fifth run.
Streamwood (30-6) got a pair of runs back in the second on Richie Gorski and Nick Pryor RBI singles, but a nifty double play turned by Nazareth squelched a bigger rally.
Nazareth second baseman Matt Radford also made a diving stop of a Josh Harris grounder to keep a run from scoring in the first inning.
In the fifth Streamwood's first two batters reached base, Nate Pearson singling for the second time, but both runners were stranded.
"I don't think the grand slam worried us," Diversey said. "The frustrating part is we'd get guys on base; we just couldn't get that extra hit. That seemed to be our M.O. all week."
Nazareth's championship was further proof of a program on the rise. The Roadrunners (33-4) advanced to the Class 3A supersectionals the last two springs.
"We had eight juniors on the field in that supersectional game," Nazareth coach Lee Milano said, "so they knew what it took to be successful. Being a 3A school I think sometimes we get overlooked. I think we kind of showed that we belonged."
Streamwood no doubt is champing at the bit for the spring to arrive, after following up a disappointing loss to South Elgin in Class 4A regional finals with the Sabres' run in the summer tournament.
"Now we have to do the things we do to get ready for the spring," Diversey said. "This was the first step. After a choke in the regional final in the spring, we learned how to finish. We just got outhit today. It happens."