Gorzelle thinks big at Appalachian State

During a three-year softball career for Fremd High School and two-year stint for Heartland Community College in Normal, Michelle Gorzelle never hit a home run.

Perhaps she was just waiting to do it at the Division I level.

Gorzelle belted the first round tripper of her career last Thursday when her Appalachian State team defeated Gardner-Webb 6-2 in the second game of a doubleheader.

Basically a bunter and slapper, Gorzelle took a full cut in the fifth inning and pulled the ball over the 200-foot right-center field fence for a towering home run on her home diamond giving the Mountaineers a 5-2 lead.

Just three years ago, Gorzelle was an all-area player for Jim Weaver's Fremd Vikings.

She then helped Heartland to a third-place finish in the National Junior College Athletic Association in 2008 and a national championship in 2009 for coach Shae Wesley.

She is now playing on a scholarship as the starting left fielder for Appalachian State in North Carolina.

Gorzelle overcame a stress fracture in her foot her freshman year and wrist surgery her sophomore year to still contribute for Heartland.

In between injuries, she played for the Northern Illinois Lightning program the past two summers.

"I'm finally healthy," said Gorzelle, who is majoring in health promotion and minoring in psychology. "I couldn't be happier than where I am now playing Division I softball. Hopefully, we can get a Southern Conference championship this season at Appalachian State."

Baseball

Valparaiso junior Ryan O'Gara was a Horizon League Baseball Player of the Week for the period of Feb. 22-28. The award is the first of his career.

O'Gara picked up Batter of the Week accolades after going 9-for-16 (. 563) with 2 doubles, 1 homer, 4 runs and 7 RBI in 3 games. He also registered an .875 slugging percentage and .563 on-base percentage for the Crusaders.

The infielder belted a 3-run homer in a 9-1 win over Richmond and recorded a sizzling 6-for-6 performance at Jacksonville as Valparaiso collected 14 runs and 22 hits.

Women's track and field

St. Ambrose made history at the NAIA Indoor track and field national championships.

For the first time in school history, the Fighting Bee women have an indoor All-American.

Sophomore Mandy Streu (Rolling Meadows) barely made it into the finals in the shot put, qualifying seventh out of eight but made up for that by jumping into the sixth and final All-American spot with her fifth throw, tossing the shot 45 feet, 8 inches.

"It was a great way for us to end the meet," St. Ambrose coach Dan Tomlin said. "Mandy has been performing like an All-American all year, and she finally got to nationals. This is a big step for her and for our program. The women have someone they can look at and see that's an All-American."

Last season, Streu came into the indoor championships seeded in the top 10 but failed to make the finals.

Basketball

Luke Miller (Elk Grove) completed his collegiate career with the Wisconsin-Oshkosh basketball team, having played in 78 consecutive games, 24 as a starter, and a total of 88 games in four seasons with the Titans.

Oshkosh compiled an overall record of 65-40 during his career. Miller was named to the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Scholastic honor roll all four seasons.

Softball

Former all-area pitcher Kristen Proffitt (Maine West) is the new head softball coach for Evanston High School. She served as assistant at Maine West in recent years.

The 24-year-old rookie coach pitched four years at Maine West High School and has coached the Des Plaines Sparklers for three years. They went 59-11 and placed fifth in the nation last summer.

Football

Bart Miller (Elk Grove) was recently named an offensive graduate assistant coach at New Mexico State. He will be assisting with the offensive line on head coach DeWayne Walker's staff.

The Aggies compete in the Western Athletic Conference.

As a player, Miller started all 13 games of the 2007 season at right guard for the University of New Mexico Lobos who finished 9-4 and won the New Mexico Bowl.

He was named Mountain West Academic All-Conference two consecutive seasons.

Men's Volleyball

John Condon (Elk Grove) is setting a 5-1 offense for Carthage College this season.

He is a 6-foot sophomore and is averaging 12.12 assists per game, which places him sixth among all NCAA Division III setters (currently averaging 12.22 assists per game).

Condon leads the team's starters with a serving percentage of .942, and is third on the team in digs.

Carthage is currently 17-7 and are enjoying one of its best seasons in years.

No April Fool's

Yes, it's Rothstein vs. Rothstein when the Maine West and Maine South junior varsity softball teams face each other on Thursday, April 1.

Holly Rothstein coaches the Hawks while her younger sister Laura Rothstein is the Warriors' coach.

Holly and Laura, who are three years apart in age, provided the Prospect High School softball team a Rothstein playing left field for six straight seasons.

They were both all-area selections.

Women's basketball

Harper College's Noreen Davis (Conant) led the country (Junior College Division III) in free-throw percentage, converting 47-of-54 (87 percent) and was also ranked 13th in the nation on 3-point shooting, where she made 49 of 111 for 44 percent.

Davis averaged 11.9 points and led the team in minutes played this past season when the Hawks' 18-10 record was their first winning record since 2002.

Davis tied for sixth best 3-pointt shooting average with 45 percent and her free throw percentage was 87 percent.

In game against Morton, Davis set a record for 8 3- point field goals in an NJCAA Division III game.

Davis helped turned the program around after playing on a Conant team that was 23-7 and was a Mid-Suburban League co-champion and regional champion in 2008.

Women's soccer

Martina Pettenuzzo (Prospect) will be joining the Chicago Red Eleven USL team this summer.

Last summer, she had a contract and started for the London Ontario Gryphons which she now will play against in this W league division.

Pettenuzzo has one more year of eligibility at the University at Buffalo.

Tennis

A singles sweep proved to be the difference as Augustana rallied from a 2-1 deficit to defeat St. Ambrose 7-2 at the Quad City Tennis Club in Moline.

Contributing to that singles success was junior Tricia Sapio (Barrington), who pulled out a key match, rallying to defeat Jenelle Bayer (0-6, 6-2, (10-4)) to give Augustana a 3-2 edge in the meet.

Basketball Camp

Conant High School girls basketball coach Dan Travers will conduct a camp from June 14 to June 25 designed to teach players the fundamentals and basics. Individual instruction will be complimented with three-on-three and five-on-five competition. Registration is on-line at the Schaumburg Park District. Web site: www.parkfun.com or by touchtone (847) 524-4200.

Softball

The Chicago Bandits announced the creation of the Chicago Bandits 12U and 14U Fastpitch tournaments, in conjunction with the United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA).

The open tournament will take place July 9-11 at the Bourbonnais Township Park District (459 N. Kennedy Drive, Bourbonnais, Ill.).

The first-ever Chicago Bandits Fastpitch Tournament is open to both 12U and 14U teams, with a five-game guarantee for every team in each age bracket. Each participating team will also receive 15 tickets to the July 10 Bandits vs. Akron Racers game.

The tournament will cost $400 per team, and the winners in each age bracket will receive a bid to the USSSA National Tournament.

For more information on the Chicago Bandits 12U and 14U Fastpitch tournaments, call the Bandits at 877-722-6348 or email banditsinfo@chicagobandits.com.

Swimming

The Des Plaines River Racers Swim Team sent more than sixteen athletes to the regional meet at Glenbrook North High School.

The River Racers placed in the top 16 in 21 of the 108 races.

"It was an incredible showing, " said head coach Mike Tuntland. "We have made our past appearances at the meet with some of our high school athletes, however this year our age group athletes really shined."

Kristen Burger, 10, managed to post Top 8 finishes in five of her events.

Burger also ended up qualifying for the state meet with her 50-yard butterfly with a time of 34.41.

Theresa Godlewski, 12 of Prospect Heights, qualified in two additional events for the age-group state meet. She went 1:06.69 in her 100-yard butterfly and a 57.77 in her 100-yard freestyle. "She has worked very hard," said assistant coach Rob Ramoska. "She swam some perfectly executed races, knew what she had to do to beat her competition."

Godlewski also swam in the 50 free, 50 back, and 50 fly at state. The athletes that attended regionals were Kristen Burger (10) Pola Luckiewicz (8), Veronica Dunn (12) and Mike Conner (14) of Des Plaines, Robert Ramoska (14), John Ramoska (12), Riley Bergtholdt (10), Nemanja Crnormarkovic (10), Francesca DiValerio (17) and Tyler Gooding (15) from Park Ridge, Theresa Godlewski (12) and Justin Loquercio (12) from Prospect Heights and Joe Lakner (17) and Ryan Lakner (12) from Mount Prospect and Kayla Dale (14) from Wheeling.

Joe Lakner (Prospect) swam at the Illinois Swimming Senior State Championship Meet at the University of Illinois at Chicago on March 6-8.

Lakner qualified his 200-yard backstroke as well as the 100-yard butterfly. He took 19th place in his 100-yard backstroke with a final time of 54.78. His 100 yard fly went 55.40, and his 200 backstroke went 2:02.85.

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