Conference Title at Last for Rich Central Baseball

After 22 years, Rich Central’s baseball team finally can call itself a conference champion.

Reaching the 20-win mark for the first time in that span, the Olympians have lived up to coach Corey Stallings’ high expectations.

"The sky is the limit," Stallings has said.

The Southland Conference champs will try to make some noise in the state playoffs when they open regional play against conference rival Kankakee on Wednesday at Lincoln-Way West High School in New Lenox. 

The Olympians clinched the regular-season conference crown with a 14-2 rout of Kankakee on Wednesday and then improved to 20-5 on the season on Thursday with a 6-3 home win over Rich East.

Bloom Township Track and Field Qualifiers

Congratulations to the following Bloom Township track members for qualifying for state: 

• Kaleb Williams (400 meters and the 4 x 100, 4 x 200 and 4 x 800 relay teams;
• the 4 x 100 relay members: Williams, Chris Kress, Craig Davis and James Harriel;
• the 4 x 200 team members: Williams, Kress, Davis and Harriel;
•  and the 4 x 800 team members: Jacob Hernandez, Nick Anderson, Rexford Wiafe and Michael Henry.

The Blazing Trojans competed in their own sectional on Thursday, and state competition will take place next weekend at Eastern Illinois University.

Marian Softball Captures ESCC Title

Marian Catholic swept St. Viator 6-1 and 15-0 to win its first East Suburban Catholic Conference softball title since 2008 and ninth overall.

Becca Gray picked up her 20th victory Game 1 and Bri Clark hit a grand slam.  In Game 2, Rachel Glenn pitched a no-hitter and went 3-for-3 with a home run.  Becca Stanton also hit a homer, her 12th, to set the single-season school record.

The Spartans finish the regular season with a 28-5 record, including 17-1 in conference play.

Marian Girls Soccer Shows Class

Despite losing 3-0 to Sandburg in the Class 3A Sandburg Regional finals, the Marian Catholic girls soccer team collected some memorable moments.

First, the Spartans reached the finals thanks to a thrilling win over Reavis in the semifinals. The match was scoreless through four overtimes before the Spartans won 3-1 win on penalty kicks. Christina Franzese, Deanna Sizemore and Cecily Strezo each tallied penalty-kick goals for the Spartans.

Against Sandburg, Spartans freshman goalie Sarah Sieracki showed her talent and not her youth as she was outstanding in goal.

Marian finished its season with a record of 4-9-5.

Playoff Time for Marian Boys Volleyball

Marian’s boys volleyball team will begin regional play on Monday when the Spartans host their own regional. On Tuesday the Spartans’ Will Craft was his typical dominant self, delivering 19 kills, and Jay Hochstetler was 65-for-66 setting with 29 assists to key a 21-25, 25-21, 25-23 victory at St. Viator.

The Spartans finished 13-16 on the regular season and 3-5 in conference. They will take on T.F. North at 4:30 p.m. on Monday.