Fightin’ Irish rally for comeback conference win: Thursday’s Daily Journal Roundup

Baseball

Bishop McNamara 3, Wheaton Academy 2: A three-run fifth inning gave the Fightin’ Irish a Chicagoland Christian Conference home victory to improve to 9-4 (2-1). Callaghan O’Connor pitched four innings, allowing an earned run on five hits, two walks and seven strikeouts. Jacob Lotz earned the win in relief, allowing an earned run on two hits, a walk and three strikeouts. Max Rohr had half of McNamara’s hits with a 2 for 3 day. Preston Payne drove in a run on a squeeze bunt. Dom Panozzo singled and scored.

Beecher 2, St. Anne-Donovan 1: Santino Imhof and the Bobcats (6-6, 3-1 River Valley Conference) were able to avenge Tuesday’s loss after emerging in a pitchers’ duel against Carter Ponton and the Cardinals (7-4, 1-3). Each pitcher tossed a complete game, with Imhof allowing an earned run on four hits, a walk and 12 strikeouts and Ponton taking the tough luck loss after allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits, three walks and nine strikeouts.

Ryan Cruz scored both Beecher runs, one on a solo home run in the second and again in the fourth on an error. Imhof had a pair of singles while Chase Maher had one.

The Cardinals got their lone run in the top of the second, when Jackson Hawkins doubled and came around to score on a Jesus Chaca Tapia sacrifice fly. Preston Harrington-DeWitt, Brandon Schoth and Ben Harpster each singled.

Momence 5, Grant Park 3: Momence earned a road RVC win to move to 3-5 (2-2) thanks to a wonderful outing from Braeden Merrill, who allowed three unearned runs on a hit and eight strikeouts over six innings. He also went 2 for 3 with a stolen base, two runs and an RBI. Jackson Ford singled and scored twice. Sam Fitzgerald had an RBI single and scored. Austin Lynch had an RBI single and earned the save after striking out a pair in a perfect seventh inning.

Ian Hamann had the lone hit for the Dragons (4-5, 2-3). Joey McGinley pitched a complete game, allowing four earned runs on five hits, a walk and eight strikeouts.

Milford 2, St. Anthony 0: The Bearcats (6-7) scored their second shutout win in as many days thanks to a four-hit, 14-strikeout shutout on the mound from Caleb Clutteur, who added a double at the plate. David Bell’s two-run single in the fifth inning were the game’s only runs. Colt Halpin was 2 for 3 with a double.

Serena 5, Gardner-South Wilmington 0: The Panthers (3-7) were within a run through six innings before four unearned runs in the seventh put things out of reach. Brock Enerson allowed an earned run on three hits, three walks and five strikeouts over four innings. Caden Christensen surrendered four unearned runs on six hits, a walk and six strikeouts in three innings. Hunter Partilla was 1 for 3 with the lone Panther hit.

Salt Fork 8, Watseka 1: Watseka slid to 1-9 and 0-3 in the Vermilion Valley Conference Thursday. James Newell was 2 for 3 with a stolen base and an RBI. He allowed seven runs (four earned) on 10 hits, two walks and a strikeout in five innings. Andrew Shoemaker doubled, stole a base and scored. Austin Morris doubled and allowed an earned run on a hit and two walks in two innings of relief.

Armstrong 12, Cissna Park 1: Adyn Hamrick and Hudson Young had the two lone hits for Cissna Park (1-10, 0-5 VVC). Seth Walder scored on a Jream Renteria sacrifice fly.

Softball

Bishop McNamara 19, Timothy Christian 1: It took McNamara (7-4) just three trips to the plate to pile up 19 runs in a four-inning win to stay unbeaten in the Chicagoland Christian Conference (5-0). Joslynn Dole didn’t need much support, allowing just one earned run on two hits, no walks and three strikeouts. She recorded three hits herself, including a double, and drove in three runs.

Camille Czako was 3 for 4 with a home run, a triple, two RBIs and three runs. Vivian Dole was 2 for 3 with a home run, a double, four RBIs and two runs. Rhaya DePaolo was a perfect 4 for 4 with a double, two RBIs and three runs.

Coal City 15, Lisle 1: Addison Hodgen and Khloe Picard drove in four runs apiece in the first game of an Illinois Central Eight Conference doubleheader Thursday. Hodgen went 3 for 3 with a home run, four RBIs and three runs while Picard was 3 for 4 with two doubles, four RBIs and three runs. Addison Harvey was also a force at the plate, finishing 4 for 4 with a double, three RBIs and two runs. Masyn Kuder, Naomi Rodriguez and Brittnae Combes combined to allow just two hits and one unearned run.

Coal City 7, Lisle 0: After contributing to the Coalers’ strong pitching performance in the first game of Thursday’s ICE doubleheader in Lisle, Masyn Kuder pitching 4 ⅓ shutout innings in game two. She allowed just one hit while recording five strikeouts. Naomi Rodriguez got the final two outs with a strikeout and pop out as the Coalers improved to 12-5 overall and 6-0 in the ICE. Khloe Picard went 1 for 3 with a two-run home run. Kaycee Graf was 2 for 3 with a double, an RBI and a run while Sierra Anderson was 2 for 2 with a run and a steal.

Herscher 14, Newark 10: The Tigers improved to 10-5 with a nonconference win at home Thursday, thanks in large part to Keira Ahramovich. The junior catcher was 4 for 4 with a home run, a triple, seven RBIs and a pair of runs. RyLyn Adams was 3 for 4 and scored four runs. Anistin Hackley and Abby Overacker each had two hits and runs apiece, with Hackley doubling and driving in a run.

Marian Catholic 4, Peotone 2: After throwing a perfect game and no-hitter earlier this week, Blue Devils pitcher Sophie Klawitter had her third double-digit strikeout game of the week, but Peotone fell to 5-7 with a narrow nonconference loss. Klawitter allowed four runs (three earned) on four hits, a walk and 10 strikeouts. Autumn Clay singled, stole two bases, scored and drove in a run. Caelan Farmer had an RBI single.

Grant Park 11, Momence 1: The Dragons (8-5, 6-2 RVC) stayed hot on Thursday to pick up their fifth win in a row, and second straight over Momence (0-9, 0-6 RVC). Cheyenne Hayes got the win for Grant Park, striking out 12 batters and allowing only four hits and a run over five innings. She also went 3 for 3 with a home run, a double, five RBIs and a run. Abigail Roberts was 3 for 4 with a walk, four runs and four steals.

For Momence, Sydnee VanSwol was 1 for 3 with a double and an RBI while Emma Varnak was 1 for 3 with a double. Aubrey Denoyer walked and scored the team’s lone run.

Serena 3, Gardner-South Wilmington 0: Maddie Simms didn’t allow an earned run in a complete game effort, but three unearned runs came back to bite the Panthers (9-6) in nonconference action Thursday. Simms surrendered five hits and three walks while striking out seven. Liv Siano, Kayla Schueber and Lilly Buck each singled.

Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley 15, Milford-Cissna Park 6: The Bearcats (7-5) fell behind 6-0 in the top of the first and could never recover Thursday. Addison Lucht hit a three-run home run in the third, walked three times, stole a base and scored twice. Lillie Harris was 2 for 3 with a pair of RBIs. Kami Muehling singled and scored twice.

Salt Fork 8, Watseka 4: After snapping a seven-game losing streak with a road win Wednesday, the Warriors (2-8, 0-2 VVC) dropped a conference game at home on Thursday in extra innings. Salt Fork broke a 4-4 tie with four runs in the top of the ninth. For Watseka, Abigail Neukomm was 2 for 4 with a solo home run. Christa Holohan was 2 for 4 with a run while Emma Klopp was 2 for 4 with an RBI.

Girls soccer

Herscher 5, Wilmington 1: The Tigers (10-2-2, 3-0 ICE), got a pair of goals from Gianni Jaime in Thursday’s conference win. Brooke King, Sophie Venckauskas and Claire Chinski each scored. Venckauskas and Chinski each had assists as well, with Gianna High recording a pair of assists. Bella Eich had eight saves.

Reed-Custer 5, Manteno 2: A four-goal outburst from Gwen Stewart propelled the Comets (6-2, 3-0 ICE) to a road win in conference play on Thursday over the Panthers (4-7-2, 1-2 ICE). Stewart also had an assist on a goal from Aurora Haake, who assisted in two of Stewart’s goals. For Manteno, Michelle Carrera and Emily Horath found the back of the net.

Lisle 4, Peotone 1: No individual stats were available for the Blue Devils (1-5, 0-3 ICE).

Track and field

Watseka Co-ed Meet: Host Watseka finished second out of eight boys teams (92 points) and fourth out of seven girls teams (57) on the Warriors’ senior night. Momence was third on the girls side (72) and fifth in boys (42), a reversal of the Beecher boys (46) and girls (51). Peotone finished seventh in both boys (28.5) and girls 47). Milford was eighth on the boys side (23).

Watseka’s Andrew McTaggart won the 1,600 m (4:45.78) and 3,200 m (10:18.65). Aaron Greene won the 110 m hurdles (20.18 s) and Dennis Goodman won the triple jump (11.85 m). The Warriors also won the 4x200 m relay (1:39.10). All other events were won by team champion Bismarck-Henning.

On the girls side, Momence’s Jaliyah won both the 100 m (13.34s) and 200 m (28.21 s) while Watseka’s Megan Martin took first in the shot put (10.99 m). Beecher had Brooklyn Burdick take first in the 3,200 m (11:50.06) and Madison Smith take first in the long jump (4.87 m). Peotone’s Terrynn Clott won the discus (31.49 m) and teammate Celeste Richards won the 1,600 m (5:45.80).

Badminton

Bradley-Bourbonnais 8, Lincoln-Way Central 7: The Boilermakers sweated out a SouthWest Suburban Conference victory for their third SWSC win of the week.

Boys volleyball

Homewood-Flossmoor 2, Bradley-Bourbonnais 0: No individual stats were available for the Boilermakers (3-10), who took the loss in their SouthWest Suburban Conference opener on the road.