City-lover Atlas will take her game from Barrington to Hofstra

Barrington's girl with the big bat is headed to the big city.

Leyden Atlas never dreamed she would play her favorite game no more than an hour from New York City.

The Fillies' standout outfielder has committed to play Division I softball at Hofstra University.

"I just love the city," she said. "We have Chicago and New York is a different experience. I would love to try out all the restaurants and pizza there."

On one of her two visits to the campus, she even made it over to Central Park.

For opposing pitchers, facing Atlas is no walk in the park.

As a sophomore, she hit a career high .435 with 30 hits, while also slugging a career-best .536.

As a junior, she appeared in 22 games, compiling 23 hits with 3 doubles and 2 home runs, while batting .457 with runners in scoring position.

This season, she has helped the Fillies get off to a 7-1 start.

At Hofstra, Atlas plans to study criminology.

"I take dual credit courses at Harper and decided to take a criminal justice and forensics class," she said. "I just feel in love with the field of criminology. I think profiling - where you are figuring why people do what they do - would be pretty cool."

She also thought it was pretty cool that Hofstra coach Jay Miller gave her a chance to play for the Pride.

Atlas had originally committed to Rutgers but when its head coach left, she began looking for a new program.

Miller (26 seasons as a D-I head coach with more than 1,000 wins) was the assistant at Rutgers, and when he landed the Hofstra head job last year, he contacted Atlas.

"I took a visit and absolutely loved the school," Atlas said. "I loved everything about it - the current team, the coaches, the private school dynamic and the size. I am so excited.

"When coach Miller took the job, it was a no-brainer for me. After my first campus visit, I was hooked. I knew it was the right fit."

Softball

Shaw University (N.C.) senior Alex Masnica (Elk Grove) celebrated her Senior Day by leading the Bears' offense in Game 1 of a doubleheader. She went 3-for-3 with 2 RBI in a 13-3 loss to undefeated Claflin University.

Men's tennis

Lewis' Anton Levitin (Buffalo Grove) defeated Ethan McCafferty and Kayser Khan 6-2 at No. 3 doubles as the Flyers (5-3) defeated McKendree 5-2 to open conference play in Great Lakes Valley.

Men's swimming

Trinity University (San Antonio, TX) sophomore Anthony Liva (Prospect) was 21st in the 1-meter (380.65) and 22nd in the 3-meter (401.55) at the NCAA Division III National Championships in Greensboro, N.C.

He was fourth in the 3-meter (450.25) and sixth in the 1-meter (428.90) at the NCAA Division III Zones Championships in Grinnell, IA, and he was second in the 1-meter (496.65) and the 3-meter (444.15) at the SCAC championships in San Antonio, TX.) He earned first team all-conference in both events.

Women's swimming

Iowa State redshirt junior Dana Liva (Prospect) was sixth in the 10-meter finals platform (211.95) which gave her first team all-conference honors in the Big 12 championships in Austin, TX. She was also fourth in the 1-meter consolation finals (250.45) and seventh in the 3-meter consolation finals (237.5).

At the NCAA D-I Zones Championships also in Austin, Liva was 19th in the 10-meter platform (211.35), 29th in the 1-meter (235.6) and 46th in the 3-meter (233.15)

Pride of the Wolf Pack

This year's 'Pride of the Wolf Pack' ceremony at Thomas Middle School will be held on Thursday, April 18 at 8 a.m.

The event honors Thomas graduates who went on to play Division 1 or professional sports.

This year's honorees are 1986 grad Brendan Eitz (soccer and track at Loyola of Chicago), 2006 grad Heather Nisbet (tennis at Illinois State University) and 2007 grad Ali Svoboda (hockey for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York).

These three honorees join past inductees Brian McBride, Tom Nelson, Dave Corzine, Tom Zbikowski, Mike Myers, Brandon Harwell, Scott Kelley, Luke Fabrizius, Ben Brust, Megan Fesl, Abby Fesl, Annie Fesl, Erin Rodriguez, Katelyn Prorok, Gillian Falknor, Andrea DiPrima, Patrick Hyde, Nell Boyd, Mark Woodsum and Chris Nowinski.

Baseball

Dominican University sophomore second baseman Tyler Trojan (Barrington) was named the school's Athlete of the Week when he batted .400 as the Stars opened Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference play with a 3-1 record.

In a pair of come-from-behind wins, Trojan was in the thick of the Stars' rallies.

He went 3-for-4 with an RBI in an 8-5 win over Rockford University.

Then Trojan had the game-tying hit, a 2-run single, in a 3-run bottom of the ninth when the Stars won 7-6 over Milwaukee School of Engineering.

For the week, he went 6-for-16 with a double and 2 RBI while playing flawless defense in the field.

•Lewis senior Brandon Post (Elk Grove) contributed an RBI single in the Flyers' 12-2 win over visiting McKendree. Lewis swept the series to improve to 12-14. •Augustana freshman Matt Helms (Palatine) had an RBI single for the Vikings (12-5-1) in a 14-1 win over North Park.

Women's lacrosse

North Central junior midfielder Christina Truver (Fremd) won her second straight College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin Defensive Player of the Week award.

She combined for 10 caused turnovers and 13 ground balls in two wins.

Truver had 6 caused turnovers and 8 ground balls against Benedictine and recorded 4 caused turnovers and 5 ground balls against Dubuque.

She also combined for 14 draw controls including eight against Benedictine and six against Dubuque.

Hamann outing

The annual John Hamann Golf Outing that helps award $5,000 in scholarships to Willowbrook High School student-athletes and to the Community Congregational Church of Villa Park will be held Thursday, June 13 with a 1 p.m. shotgun start at Maple Meadows Golf Club in Wood Dale.

The John Hamann family members award two scholarships to Willowbrook High School seniors every year in memory of their father.

John taught and coached at Willowbrook for 38 years. He was head golf coach for 34 years and head basketball coach for 13 years. He is a member of the Willowbrook Warrior Athletics and the Illinois Golf Coaches Association hall of fames.

In 2018, $2,500 was awarded to one senior male and one senior female in honor of John Hamann.

For more information contact Jeff Hamann, Jim Hamann, Julie Hamann at jeff@johnhamannscholarship.org or jim@johnhamannscholarship.org or julie@johnhamannscholarship.org

You can visit the website johnhamannscholarship.org for more information.

Basketball

The tenth annual Lake County Senior Shootout will be held Friday, April 12 at Waukegan High School (Brookside campus).

The high school all-star basketball game consist of the top senior boys and girls basketball players in Lake County.

The East boys team includes Barrington's Mark Johnson and Jason Boock while Buffalo Grove's Michael Nowakowski and Tom Treib will play on the West team.

On the girls side, Buffalo Grove's Sydney Fortman and Jackie Bickhaus along with Tori Meyer of Barrington are on the East roster.

The girls game begins at 6 p.m. and the boys at 8 p.m. Admission is $5.

Women's basketball

Oakton Community College sophomore guard Liz Stangel (Willows Academy in Des Plaines) earned her second Student/Athlete of the Month award for March.

The Owls' co-captain led the team this season with 388 rebounds (14.9 rebounds per game), good for second in the nation.

With her 388 boards for the 2018-19 campaign, Stangel holds the school's single-season record for rebounding, eclipsing the previous record of 280 set by Agata Wojciechowski in the 2006-07 season.

"I never go into a season expecting awards," Stangel said. "However, it's reassuring to know that my efforts are appreciated. I just made it a goal to rebound as well as possible in each game and I was determined to get every loose ball that came my way."

• Email Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com