Kaneland celebrates baseball championship
With lights flashing, fire and police vehicles escorted the team bus carrying the triumphant state 3A championship baseball players into the Kaneland High School parking lot Saturday.
Fresh off their 11-3 win against Oak Forest earlier in the day, they were greeted by dozens of cheering parents and community members who had been alerted by phone, texts and Facebook to the impromptu celebration at the Maple Park school.
“It was the most amazing feeling in the world,” starting pitcher Drew Peters, who just finished his junior year, said of the victory.
Kaneland Unit District 302 Superintendent Jeff Schuler attended the game in Joliet and said about 200 supporters, parents and friends were at the stadium.
“It was unbelievable,” he said. “It was a really unique experience that I will not forget.”
The team, which went 26-10 during the season, had never won a regional until beating Sycamore two weeks ago.
In the semifinals Friday, they beat Waterloo 8-2 and faced the 27-2 Oak Forest team for Saturday’s final.
“We just played good defense and offense, and we pitched really well,” said coach Brian Aversa. “The boys did a great job.”
The state title is Kaneland’s first since the football program won back-to-back championships in 1997 and 1998. School board president Cheryl Krauspe said the championship means a lot to the district.
“About four years ago a lot of the sports programs were almost cut because of financial concerns,” she said.
Fans decorated the parking lot with black and white balloons and streamers. Among them was sophomore Blake Sowell of Elburn, who used duct tape to write “2011 State Champs” on the pavement.
Sowell said the championship was “really cool” but lamented that there weren’t a lot of people at the games during the regular season.
“If it was a basketball or football game, there would have been a lot more,” he said.
But that may change, according to Peters. “Baseball doesn’t get as much recognition as football, but I think we just put it on the map.”