Even by Beecher’s lofty standards, this year’s softball team is off to a great start.
The Bobcats opened the season winning their first 20 games and have outscored opponents 224-13. The outburst includes 16 shutouts and 14 games in which they scored 10 or more runs.
“We’ve been going pretty darn good with our pitching and our defense has been pretty good,” Beecher coach Kevin Hayhurst said. “That’s what you have to have if you are going to have a long winning streak.
“And, of course, when you get some key hits, that always helps. But we still have a few things we need to clean up. And they know it.”
The Bobcats, ranked second in the state behind Carterville in Class 2A by the Illinois Coaches Association in the May 3 poll, hosted Grant Park, ranked 16th in Class 1A, on April 28 in a doubleheader and won 10-0 and 14-0
Colgate-bound Taylor Norkus threw a six-inning one-hitter in the opener. Northern Illinois commit Makenzie Johnson had four hits in the two games while Eva Kvasnicka, Emma Henderson, Mia Chavez and Maddy Grooms each had three hits in the nightcap.
“We were ready to go,” Hayhurst said. “We have really good hitters from one to nine who can put the ball in play,” he said. “We were able to do that in both games.”
The best start to a season for the Bobcats was in 2006, when they opened with 36 wins but were beaten in the supersectionals, 1-0 by St. Joseph Ogden.
Dedication to Coach G
Crete-Monee will dedicate its softball field on May 8 to coach Sue Giannantonio, known to many as “Coach G.”
She coached at the school for 32 years, won more than 500 games and was inducted into the Illinois Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Giannantonio guided the Warriors to 10 conference championships, had 183 all-conference players and watched 52 player graduate and go on to play softball at the next level.
Big week for Horath
Manteno’s Emily Horath scored two goals and added an assist in a 5-0 victory over Bishop McNamara on April 29.
Off the pitch, she and Panthers basketball teammate Maddie Gesky received postseason all-state honors from the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette as Gesky was named special mention and Horath honorable mention.
Horath and basketball teammate Lila Prindeville also signed letters of intent with Horath going to Kankakee and Prindeville heading to DuPage.
More area commits
Manteno softball star Aubrie Goudreau committed to Central Alabama Community College.
Panther baseball standout Maddox Toepper is heading to Division II Lewis.
Crete-Monee basketball player Joseph Jones committed to Southwestern Michigan.
Panthers come alive
Manteno’s softball trailed 2-1 after four innings but exploded for 11 runs in the next two innings for a 13-6 win over Streator on April 30. Goodreau had four RBIs.
That capped a two-game sweep of Streator as the Panthers (15-5, 8-2 Illinois Central Eight) won 8-1 two days prior, with Savanna Watkins collecting three hits.
High fives for Peotone
Peotone’s softball team scored five runs in the first and five more in the fifth on May 1 to beat Momence 11-0 in a nonconference matchup.
Mary Klawitter had three hits and Ava Kosmos scored three times for the Blue Devils (8-10). Sophie Klawitter threw the two-hit shutout and struck out 11.