JU ne 16, 20 2 1 Vol . 6 5 I ss U e 34
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sofTball
Minooka, JCA headed to Peoria by marK gregory editorial director
@Hear_The_Beard mark@buglenewspapers.com
In the sectional semifinal, the Minooka softball team showed its ability to use a big inning for a come-from-behind win. In the Illinois State University Supersectioal Monday, the Indians used strong pitching and small ball to get past SPC West foe Yorkville 5-1 and punch their second trip to the state finals in school history. Up next is date with LincolnWay Central, who defeated Minooka 11-1 on April 22. The Knights defeated St. Charles North 5-4 in Orland Park to with their supersectional. The two teams will play at 12:30 p.m. at Louisville Slugger Sports Complex in Peoria. Minooka set the stage early for Yorkville and showed the Foxes the game would not be an easy one. Yorkville, the visiting team after a loss coin flip, got a lead-off double from Mackenzie Melzer, who was caught stealing on a missed sacrifice bunt attempt by Kaitlyn Roberts. Roberts then singled and was thrown on at second on a force play after a bloop single from Ellie Alvarez fell in center. Avery Nehring then walked and Minooka’s Allie Timm struck out Kayla Tranter to end the Yorkville first. In the Inning, the Foxes had three hits and a walk and could not push a run across the plate. Leaving runners on base was a theme for Yorkville as the Foxes stranded right runners for the game — three in scoring position. In the bottom of the first, the Indians went to work. Anna McClimon and Chloe Kornhorst walked to lead off the inning and after a Madi Reeves wild pitch — her first of five costly ones of the game — Timm helped her own cause and laid down a sac bunt to get the run across. In the bottom of the second, Kaylee King walked with one out and advanced to second on a wild pitch. She then scored on McClimon single to shallow right center for what turned out to be the game-winning run,” McClimon said. “Once we start, we can’t stop and I think that is why we catch so
small ball, like a sixth-inning bunt from Kaylee King, helped minooka advance to the state finals. many games because we get that late lead and we keep going. Yorkville scratched across a run in the third after a hit batsman and error led to a tally, but those were the lone blemishes of the game for Minooka. Timm stranded one runner in the third, one in the fourth and left the bases loaded in the fifth. In the fifth, No. 9 hitter Taylor Warren opened the frame with a
rope to left center and was moved to second on a sac bunt. Maddie Belluomini tracked down a fly ball in foul territory for a fantastic second out before Alvarez singled to center and Nehring walked. Timm then calmly fanned Tranter for the second time in the game to end the threat. Not that they needed them, but Minooka tacked on a run in the fifth. Sofia Dziuba singled
to left to leadoff the inning. She advanced to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a sac bunt from McClimon and scored on a wild pitch to make the game 3-1. The Indians were not done, as they added a pair in the sixth inning thanks to errors, wild pitches and heads up base running. Yorkville tried to fight back,
PHOTO BY MARK GREGORY
opening the seventh with a lead off single before Timm notched her eighth and ninth strikeouts of the game. A line drive from Alvarez to McClimon in right field ended the game and sent Minooka to Peoria. “I think in the back of my mind that the first girl to get a hit, her run didn’t mean anything,” Timm
see ‘fInals’ page 7
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baseball
Louck dominates Br. Rice; East heads to finals by draKe sKleba for the bugle
Plainfield East supersophomore left-hander, Brady Louck is a man of very few words. The 16-year old Louck lets his powerful left arm and his powerful bat at the plate do his talking for him. On Monday night in the Class 4A Crestwood Supersectional, Louck fired a two-hit shutout, striking out 13 top-seeded Brother Rice (29-11) hitters and led his No.13seeded Bengals (17-15) to a 3-0 victory and the first-ever state final four appearance for East. At the plate, Louck had a perfect night with three hits, including a pair of doubles. “It feels really, really good to be going to state,” Louck said. “I went into the game with the mindset to throw strikes and help my team win.” The win assured the Bengals that they will be the first team in
school history to place in the top four in Illinois in any team sport. With the win, the Bengals will meet the Indians of Rockton Hononegah (25-2) in a Class 4A Semifinal at DuPage Medical Group Field in Joliet on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Louck (4-3) allowed his first hit of the game to Luke Lawrence, the second Crusader hitter he faced, in the first inning. He then earned his first two strikeouts to keep the Crusaders off the scoreboard. Louck, the Bengals leadoff man, hammered his first double of the game to lead off the Bengals first. East, however, could not get courtesy runner Kevin Smith home. In the Crusaders’ top of the third, Bryce Nevils singled for the last Brother Rice hit of the game. With one out, Rice leadoff man Zion Rose reached on a catcher’s
see ‘easT ’ page 5
We d n es day, JU NE 16 , 2 0 2 1 | b u g l e n e w spap e r s. c o m | pag e 5 ‘EAST ’ from page 4 interference call on East catcher Mike Bailey. Louck picked up his fourth and fifth punch outs of the game to keep the game scoreless. Leading off the bottom of the third inning, Louck singled for his second hit of the game. With one out, junior Christian Mitchelle followed with a booming triple to right scoring Smith with the first run of the game. “I hit the ball well to get us on the board in the third inning, with the triple,” Mitchelle said. “It feels great to be going to state. Brady does not show his emotions but he will be celebrating like crazy with all of us, when we get home tonight.” Junior Jake Eason sent the Crusaders left fielder to the warning track, for a sacrifice fly scoring Mitchelle for a 2-0 Bengals lead. “It feels amazing to be going to state,” Eason said. “Brady was just amazing tonight. We are going to
celebrate and who cares who we play Saturday.” In the Bengals’ fourth inning, two Crusader errors put runners on first and second with two outs, for Louck, who crushed his second double of the game scoring junior Jake Denton, who had reached on an error, for the 3-0 Bengal lead. With the huge contingent of Bengal fans in attendance on their feet on every two-strike count, the man of few words finished off the Chicago Catholic League champions. In a 1-2-3 fifth inning, Louck picked up strikeout No. 8. In the sixth inning, Louck hit a Crusader, but pick up strikeout Nos. 9 and 10. With the Bengal Nation crowd in a frenzy, the unflappable southpaw went to the mound for the Crusaders seventh. On a 3-2 pitch to Nick Daugherty, who had walked in the fourth inning, a questionable ball four call by the home plate umpire put the Crusaders leadoff man on in the seventh.
All Louck did after the questionable walk was strike out the final three hitters of the game for his 11th, 12th and 13th strikeouts of the game and the East win. “I had a real good day at the plate. In the seventh inning, I knew I had my strikeout pitch working and looked to get more,” he said. “Brady Louck is a flat out stud,” Plainfield East coach Adam O’Reel said. “Brady developed a blister in his game-winning performance against Plainfield Central. Even in bullpen tonight we were not sure whether he would pitch. He vehemently told me “This my game. I want it. Brady’s instinct and attitude is what we needed tonight. He has no fear. Unflappable. Brady had three hits tonight at the plate, too “In a long season you can’t go with your 1-2-3 pitchers but in the post-season you can. We felt really good heading into the post season, with our great pitching. We are just really enjoying this run. We are very confident going forward.”
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‘FINALS’ from page 3
innings to advance to the final four.
CLASS 2A said. “I just had to rely on my stuff and trust everyone behind me that they have my back. This is such a surreal moment and I am so proud of everyone. We would pay right now if we had to — we are pumped.” Timm has been the workhorse in the circle for Minooka and coach Mark Brown knew she was ready again. “We knew we were going to lean on Allie. We have a couple other pitchers in the program we have confidence in, but Allie is our bulldog,” he said. “We needed her to shut down a tough team like Yorkville and she did. That is the third or fourth time during this playoff run where she had bases loaded and could have put something out there and Allie held them.” Minooka, who will enter the state final four with a 15-13 record, will face the 29-3 Knights in the first semifinal in Peoria. Lincoln-Way Central rides the arm of Lyndsey Grein. The other semifinal will feature Marist, who defeated Taft 10-0 to advance and Huntley, who escaped Barrington 6-5 in 11
In Class 2A, another local team is headed to the state finals, as Joliet Catholic Academy advanced in dramatic fashion over Riverdale High School from Port Byron. The Angels and Riverdale were locked on a 0-0 tie heading to the bottom of the seventh when the Angels loaded the bases with no outs. JCA’s Jolee Santiago attempted a sac bunt, but instead bunted a line drive that the first baseman could not handle — sending the Angels to the state finals for the first time as Joliet Catholic Academy. The last time the program advanced was in 1988, when the school was still St. Francis Academy. St. Francis and Joliet Catholic merged in 1990. The Angels will play Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex against Unity High School from Tolono. The other two teams advancing are Metropolis Massac County and Taylor Ridge Rockridge.
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sTaTe
JCA girls soccer; host of track locals advance by marK gregory editorial director
@Hear_The_Beard mark@buglenewspapers.com
The Joliet Catholic Academy girls soccer team continued to advance through the IHSA Class 2A playoffs with a 4-1 win over Peoria Notre Dame in the Class 2A Mendota Supersectional match Monday. The Angels(15-1-1) got a pair of goals and an assist from Emma Gruber, a goal and assist from Morgan Furmaniak and a goal from Alaina Wildenradt
to advance to face St. Ignatius College Prep in a 12:30 p.m. Friday semifinal at Fremd High School in Palatine. St. Viator and Troy (Triad) are in the other semifinal. The winners will face off Saturday at Hoffman Estates High School at 4:15 p.m., while the third-place match will be at Fremd at 12:15 p.m. JCA placed fourth in the last state tournament held in girls soccer in 2019, as last year’s was lost to the COVID-19 Pandemic and statewide restrictions.
Two years ago, the Angels fell 3-1 to Troy (Triad) in the thirdplace match.
TracK & fIeld The Minooka boys track and field team leads the way for local competitors. The Indians are seeded in the top six in four races, including Tyler Cowell being the No. 1 seeded runner in the 200 dash with a time of 21.61 seconds and No. 3 in the 100 (10.74). The Indians’ 4x100 relay is the No, 2 seed (41.79), while the 4x200 is
the third seed in 1:29.08. Ryann Maseman of Plainfield North is the No. 1 overall seed in the 800 run in 1:54.24). The Tigers also have the N0. 4 seed 4x400 relay (3:29.93). Plainfield South is the No. 2 4x400 relay (3:22.53). while Niko Schultz is seeded sixth in the 400 (49.85). Lockport’s Gabe Czako is the No. 2 seed in the 110 hurdles (14.36) and No. 6 in the 300 hurdles (39.52). The Porters also have Wil Kiley, who is No. 5 in the 1600 (4:18.30) and the 4x200 relay
team, which is fourth in 1:29.44. Joliet West’s Marcellus Miner is the No. 6 seeded runner in the 1600 run with a time of 4:18:76. The Class 3A state track and field finals are Saturday at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.
boys Volleyball Lockport played after press time in the Minooka Sectional Final against Edwardsville. A Porter win would send them to the state finals this weekend. The finals are held at Hoffman Estates High School.
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