Patient Prairie Ridge delivers first regional championship since 2021

CRYSTAL LAKE – Prairie Ridge’s patience and selectivity was on full display Saturday against Lake Forest.

And while the watchful Wolves repeatedly jammed the bases with 11 walks against three Scouts’ pitchers, it was clutch hitting that put top-seeded Prairie Ridge over the top en route to a 9-5 victory against No. 10 Lake Forest in the Class 3A Prairie Ridge Regional championship.

The Wolves (27-9-1), who won their first regional since 2021, recorded single runs in the first, second and third innings, all with two outs, and put the game away with a five-run fifth.

Senior catcher Conner Pollasky reached base all four times, walking three times and ripping a two-out single in the bottom of the first that drove in the game’s first run.

Leadoff hitter Brennan Coyle added a two-out double to score a run in the second inning with Lake Forest right fielder Luke Pasquesi coming up just short on a diving attempt, and No. 8 hitter Ryan Myers drew a bases-loaded walk, also with two outs, in the third for Prairie Ridge’s third run and a 3-1 lead.

“Those are daggers,” Pollasky said of the two-out RBIs. “To get those early, it really shuts the other team down and gets them quiet.”

Prairie Ridge was out-hit by Lake Forest 7-4, but the Wolves’ drawn-out at-bats against left-handed starter Callum Morrison constantly gave them chances to score.

“We were worried about the lefty because we heard their starter was real good and effective as a three-pitch guy,” Wolves coach Glen Pecoraro said. “But we did enough today. We put some barrels on the ball with two outs and those are killers. I’m really proud of our guys. It was kind of a crazy game. A lot of intensity, which any regional game is.”

Prairie Ridge sent 10 batters to the plate in the five-run fifth and only had one hit in the inning. The Wolves saw three different pitchers, taking four walks, and also reached base on a hit-by-pitch. Gabe Winkelman recorded the lone hit of the fifth with a two-run single to score Maddon McKim and pinch-runner Gavin Piekos, who stole three bases in the game.

Lake Forest and the home plate umpire did not see eye-to-eye on several ball-strike calls throughout the game.

After the previous inning led to many pauses in action because of disputed calls about the strike zone, head coach Mike Nilles and an assistant were thrown out in the bottom of the sixth after arguing Piekos left third base early on a sacrifice fly that made the score 9-3.

Nilles felt a narrow strike zone during the game influenced at-bats on both sides.

“It looked like it was going to be a higher strike zone, and when those weren’t getting called strikes, then you start putting little bugs in the umpire’s ear to maybe get a close call here or there,” Nilles said. “We have a secret signal with our catcher. If our catcher thinks it’s a strike, he relays it to us, and more times than not he was relaying that signal.

“It completely puts the pitcher’s mindset in a different spot when he’s 1-0 instead of 0-1, same thing with the hitters, too.”

Senior pitcher Riley Golden, a four-year varsity player, threw five innings for the Wolves. He allowed a run on four hits with four strikeouts and no walks.

“Coach (Pecoraro) always says there’s no zone, there’s an umpire’s zone,” Golden said. “I will say he was pretty consistent. He was calling the ball where it was crosses as opposed to where it’s getting caught. He wouldn’t call the low ball.

“As a pitcher and a team, it’s just something you’ve got to adjust to. Can’t hold it against umpires. ... Just flush it and getting that next pitch wherever he wants it.”

Lake Forest started the season 5-12, but finished strong at 12-5. The Scouts mounted a late comeback attempt with two runs in both the sixth and seventh innings.

“We were losing a lot of close games, getting blown out in some others,” Nilles said. “Early to mid April, it was looking like one of those seasons where we just had to start planning for the future. We had a lot of turnover, a lot of heart-to-heart and completely flipped our win-loss record. I could not be more proud of this group of boys.”

Prairie Ridge will play Fox Valley Conference rival Cary-Grove in a Grayslake Central Sectional semifinal at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Wolves players are hoping for a long run in Pecoraro’s 25th and final season.

“We’re just trying to push through every game, remembering that it’s just a game, but we do want to go on a deep run for him,” Pollasky said. “As seniors we’ve been looking forward to this year for four years now.”