Sports
Lisle Baseball/Softball Insider
Both teams are in the final week of their regular seasons. Regionals begin May 17 for the softball team; May 19 for the baseball team.
Lisle baseball
Record: (as of Saturday, May 7) 19-8 overall, 8-5 in the Interstate Eight Northern Division.
This week’s schedule: (all games start at 4:30 p.m. unless otherwise indicated; all home games are played at Lisle Field No. 7 unless otherwise indicated)
Tuesday, May 10: vs. Sandwich at Benedictine University (6:30 p.m.)
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Thursday, May 12: vs. Wilmington
Saturday, May 14: vs. Luther North, 10 a.m.
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Last week: Following an 8-3 loss to I-8 crossover opponent Plano at Plano on May 3, the Lions bounced back and edged Aurora Christian 5-4 the next day. On May 5, Lisle swept a doubleheader from Northern Division rival Seneca in convincing fashion, 13-4 and 15-4. Unfortunately, the Lions were dealt an 8-4 loss at the hands of Reed-Custer last Friday. Down 8-0 early vs. Plano, Lisle fought back, but left six runners in scoring position over the final three innings. This is the final week of the regular season for the Lions, who are seeded second at their own regional. Lisle will face Chicago Leo in its regional opener on Thursday, May 19.
At the plate: Will DeCraene, a senior, cracked three doubles and had two RBIs in the Lions’ loss to Reed-Custer. In their twin bill sweep of Seneca—delayed by rain and lightning for 1 ½ hours—senior Kazim Kahn and freshman Kevin Coppin each had RBI singles during Game 1 for the Lions. In the nightcap, Lisle broke the game open with a nine-run sixth. Sophomore Ryan Van Volkenburg smacked a home run and double while driving in four runs. Drew Martin, a junior, also had a three-run homer, and junior Parker Murray tripled. Martin collected four hits and four RBIs over the two games.
On the mound: Senior Ed Kretch was the winning pitcher against Aurora Christian. Kahn continued his stellar pitching as he picked up the win over Seneca in Game 1. Van Volkenburg was the winner in Game 2.
Injury report: No injuries.
Quoting coach Pete Meyer:
On last week’s play: “We didn’t face either of their (Aurora Christian’s) top two pitchers so I don’t take much out of that. They’re a very, very good team. Kazim just did a nice job the entire game (against Seneca in Game 1). We really needed to beat Plano. We really struggled there. We had opportunity after opportunity but just couldn’t come up with a big hit.”
On goals during the final week of the regular season: “We’re hoping to win every game this week, but we don’t have much of a chance of winning the conference outright. We’re hoping somebody beats Coal City for us to share the conference championship. Our goal is to win every one of these games and go into regionals on a positive note.”
On the regionals: “Aurora Christian is the team we have to beat. We play Leo in the first game, but you can’t look past anybody and you have to take it one game at a time. I would assume we play Aurora Christian (if the Lions beat Leo) on Saturday (May 21). We have a long history with them and they’re very well-coached. We have to play our best to beat a real quality team like Aurora Christian.”
Lisle softball
Record: (as of Saturday, May 7) 19-2 overall, 11-2 in the Interstate Eight Northern Division.
This week’s schedule: (all games start at 4:30 p.m. unless otherwise indicated; all home games are played at Lisle Field No. 5 unless otherwise indicated)
Tuesday, May 10: vs. Sandwich at Benedictine University (6:30 p.m.)
Thursday, May 12: at Wilmington
Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14: Lisle High School Invitational
Friday’s schedule: 4 p.m. (Field 5) Lisle vs. Momence
5:30 p.m. (Field 5) Rockridge vs. Westmont
7 p.m. (Field 5) Morrison vs. Reed-Custer
8:30 p.m. (Field 5) Immaculate Conception vs. Dakota
Saturday’s schedule: Winner’s bracket games are at 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. at Field 5. Loser’s bracket games are at 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. at Field 4. The championship game will be played at 2 p.m.
Last week: The Lions—winners of the Girls High School Team of the Month for April by the WNBA’s Chicago Sky and athletics2000.com—are well on their way to capturing the divisional title. They defeated Seneca in a doubleheader May 5 and crushed Reed-Custer in a game stopped after five innings due to the 10-run rule last Friday. Bekka Houda limited Seneca to one hit while striking out 13 to pick up the Game 1 victory. Houda also pitched the majority of the second game following an hour and fifteen-minute rain and lightning delay. In two games, she totaled 21 strikeouts and gave up just three hits.
Senior Tori Harris had two hits, including a double, in Game 2. Junior Mackenzie Buchelt was the hitting star for the Lions at Seneca, with a homer, double and single, three RBIs and two runs scored over two games. Melanie Early (junior) posted wins on the mound over Reed-Custer and Plano (10-0) on May 3. Freshman Summer Stitt homered for the Lions in the Plano victory. Early surrendered just one hit vs. Plano and two vs. Reed-Custer (the one run scored by Reed-Custer was unearned). Early also contributed two doubles and three RBIs in that game, while Stitt doubled and singled. Shelby Kretman, a junior, drove in three runs with a base-loaded double.
At the plate: Early is hitting .492, while Buchelt checks in at .451, Stitt at .429 and Harris at .344.
On the mound: Houda is 12-1 with a 1.05 ERA and 126 strikeouts (she has walked only eight). Early is 7-1 with an 0.53 ERA, 66 strikeouts and 15 walks.
Quoting coach Jen Pomatto:
On winning the Chicago Sky-athletics2000.com girls team of the month for April: “It was a nice thing to win. We were up against some bigger schools so it was nice.”
On Lisle’s pitching: “Phenomenal. Bekka was pitching phenomenal all week; she really shut down Seneca. Melanie likes to pitch and she likes to play. She keeps the ball low and gets a lot of groundouts. Grace Riley (catcher) is calling excellent games, too.”
On hosting the Lisle Invitational to end the regular season and playing Morrison, who defeated Lisle in the Class 2A supersectionals last spring: “Last year we won the tournament. We beat Morrison in the tournament and they beat us in supers. It’s always nice to play all the teams we don’t normally see. We really don’t get ahead of ourselves. We want to make sure we’re playing well no matter who we’re playing. We have to be up for all of the teams that we’re playing.”
On getting the No. 1 seed at the Westmont regional (the Lions play the winner of the Aurora Christian vs. Westmont game on Tuesday, May 17): “It’s kind of what we expected, but we’ve played a lot of these schools (in the regional and sectional) before and we need to make sure that we’re ready.”
