Oswego senior Jaelynn Anthony, who hit three home runs, including a tying two-run homer and go-ahead grand slam, and in the process became Oswego’s all-time home run leader, in leading the team to a comeback win at Minooka, is the Record Newspapers Athlete of the Week.

Genoa-Kingston slugs its way into the North Boone Regional, Kaneland take its big wins into its home regional, Sycamore gets a bye into a regional final and DeKalb hopes to be at full health. We look at what each Daily Chronicle area softball team heading into the postseason.

The IHSA has released the softball playoff schedule. Here are pairings for Suburban Life-area teams.

The IHSA has released the softball playoff schedule. Here are pairings for Kendall County-area teams.

Here are the IHSA postseason schedules for softball teams across the greater Joliet/Plainfield/Morris area.

Becca Chaney and Lily Bobor homered to power Wheaton Warrenville South softball to a crosstown win, Will Bute homered in a York baseball win and Lyons and St. Francis softball and Glenbard East baseball were winners Wednesday.

Clara Lyons hit three home runs and drove home five runs to lead Geneva softball to a 9-3 victory, their first win over Batavia in its last five games. Plus, more high-scoring affairs in Wednesday's Kane County Chronicle sports roundup.

Bailey Brummel's hat trick send Sandwich soccer past Plano to the first win in program history, Yorkville baseball rallied from a seven-run deficit to beat Oswego East and Austyn Strike and Kayla Kersting in Yorkville softball's win over Plainfield North.

Megan Halverson doubled in Katie Maday with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Oswego East's 6-5 walk-off win over Oswego giving the Wolves their first crosstown victory since 2023.

Julianna Kouba drove home the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh, and Carrigan Rich closed the door in the circle to help St. Charles North secure a 3-1 victory over St. Charles East.

Kankakee girls track and field won the Southland, Michael Clark, Nick Pignatiello and Gavin Jones combined for Bishop McNamara's second no-hitter this week and more in Wednesday's Daily Journal roundup.

Junior Brea Murphy helped Minooka organize a Lego drive for cancer patients before Minooka's 17-2 win over Bolingbrook Wednesday.

Allie Johnson threw a one-hitter and Liliana Irwin belted a two-run home run to help lead the Beecher softball team to a 5-0 home win over Peotone on Wednesday, a game that featured five pairs of sisters between the teams.

The IHSA released its 2026 softball postseason schedules Wednesday. Here are the paths awaiting teams from across the Illinois Valley, including Seneca, Princeton, Ottawa, La Salle-Peru, Streator, St. Bede, Marquette and more.

The IHSA released the 2026 softball postseason brackets on Wednesday. Bradley-Bourbonnais is one of the top seeds at its host sectional, and the local Class 2A field remains as strong as ever and more.

The IHSA has released the softball playoff schedules. Huntley (Class 4A) and Prairie Ridge (3A) earned No. 1 seeds. Woodstock North (3A) and Marian Central (2A) are No. 2 seeds. Here are regional pairings for all McHenry County teams.

Montini's Blake Heyer struck out 14 in a combined no-hitter, Lyons' Jack Slightom struck out 13 in a no-hitter, Willowbrook baseball won its 20th straight, Glenbard East rallied from nine down to beat Riverside-Brookfield and Montini, IC Catholic and St. Francis softball won.

Lydia Hammond hit a two-run home run and pitched seven one-run innings to lead the Bradley-Bourbonnais softball team to a 4-1 win over Lincoln-Way East, its seventh SouthWest Suburban Conference win in a row, and more in Tuesday's Daily Journal roundup.

Yorkville sophomore pitcher Bella Rosauer and her counterpart, Oswego senior Jaelynn Anthony, worked out of multiple jams with stellar relief as the two Southwest Prairie Conference leaders played into extra innings, the game suspended in the 12th due to darkness.

Yorkville baseball rode a nine-run first inning past Oswego East, Oswego baseball split two games with Minooka, and Yorkville Christian baseball and Oswego East softball were winners Tuesday.

Sycamore senior pitcher Bella Jacobs, despite a blister on the thumb of her pitching hand, fired a four-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts against Ottawa at Peck Park on Tuesday to help the Spartans clinch the outright Interstate 8 Conference championship.

Sycamore defeated Ottawa 2-0 on Thursday, May 5, 2026 at Peck Park in Ottawa.

Callaghan O'Connor went five the first five innings before Braylon Ricketts' closed out Bishop McNamara's combined no-hitter, Lexi Strohm threw a perfect game for Wilmington softball and more in Monday's Daily Journal roundup.

Alek Ramey and Jake Bonino homered to lead Willowbrook baseball to its 19th straight win, Jacob Johnson hit a three-run homer as Wheaton North won the rubber game of a series with Wheaton Warrenville South, and Ella Bonk and Viktoria Czech homered in a Downers North softball win.

Maddon McKim hit a grand slam to lead Prairie Ridge's baseball team to a shutout win, Woodstock North's baseball and softball teams won, and Johnsburg's girls soccer team remained undefeated. Plus more in Monday's Northwest Herald roundup.

Marian Central's Christine Chmiel fired 18 strikeouts and Kaylie Kowalsky ripped a two-run double in the seventh as the Hurricanes' rally fell short in a 5-4 loss to Chicago Christian in their Chicagoland Christian Conference softball game Monday.

"I don't tell myself anything. I just go up there and swing." Senior Lily Stiles on her no-overthink approach, why it's working for the Cogs, and how it resulted in an inside-the-park home run in 16-1 win against Rockford Lutheran on Monday.

Meet this week's Daily Journal Athlete of the Week, Beecher's Makenzie Johnson.

Ana Schaefer's two-run walk-off home run gave Benet softball a doubleheader sweep, York softball was a walk-off winner at the Rosemont Rumble, Brooke Wills homered twice in a Montini softball win and St. Francis, Downers Grove South and Downers Grove North baseball were winners.

Anna Lesage twirled a two-hitter for the Tigers softball team, Dylan Bayston and Gaige Brown combined for a shutout on the baseball field and more in Saturday's Daily Journal roundup.

Aiden Fitzgerald had the game-tying RBI double and scored the winning run for the Boilermakers, McNamara got homers from Gavin Jones and Ian Irps, Herscher saw Keira Ahramovich and Lexi Crawford homer as part of their four-hit days and more in Friday's Daily Journal roundup.

Lincoln-Way West softball scored four runs in the opening inning and just kept putting runs on the board as the Warriors beat Lincoln-Way Central 11-0 for their 20th victory.

Ottawa freshman Teagan Darif smacked a pair of solo homers, and pitcher Addie Russell went the distance in the Pirates' 2-1 victory at Seneca on Friday. The win was Ottawa's sixth straight, while Seneca's loss was its first.

Ottawa defeated Seneca 2-1 on Friday, May 1, 2026 at Seneca High School. Ottawa's Teagan Darif hit two solo home runs to give the Lady Pirates the victory.

Bradley-Bourbonnais' softball team secured its sixth straight SouthWest Suburban Conference win with an 11-1 victory over Stagg, Kankakee softball won another high-scoring Southland Athletic Conference game 24-17 over Bloom and more in Thursday's Daily Journal roundup.

Ariani Zito's inside-the-park grand slam highlighted IC Catholic Prep softball's eight-run third in a win over Trinity, Mia Melendez homered again for Riverside-Brookfield in a win, Nazareth baseball saw a 10-run lead slip away but still beat Evergreen Park and more.

Serena senior Cassie Walsh and Somonauk/Leland freshman Brielle Deacon hooked up in a classic pitchers’ duel on Thursday with the Huskers wrapping up an undefeated Little Ten Conference softball championship with a 1-0 victory over the Bobcats in Serena.

After coming from behind for a home win Tuesday, the Gardner-South Wilmington softball team picked up a 13-8 road win over Clifton Central on Thursday to finish off its fourth River Valley Conference sweep of the season.

Yorkville baseball finished off a three-game sweep of Oswego, Yorkville Christian's Phoenix Oliver tossed a complete-game one-hitter at Plano, and Oswego East and Parkview Christian baseball and Oswego, Oswego East and Yorkville softball all won big Thursday.

McHenry sophomores Danica McCarthy and Charlee Cape set things up nicely for their teammates Thursday, going 8 for 8 from the Nos. 1 and 2 spots in the lineup as the Warriors beat Cary-Grove 17-7 in Fox Valley Conference softball action.

Thanks to a rainout earlier in the week, Mother Nature gifted Kairi Lantz a game on her 18th birthday Thursday. The Sycamore senior catcher gifted herself and Spartan softball teammates a two-run home run, her 11th of the year, in a 7-0 win over La Salle-Peru.

Cary-Grove face McHenry in a Fox Valley Conference softball game on Thursday, April 30, 2026, at McHenry High School.

The LaSalle-Peru softball team traveled to Sycamore Thursday to take on the Spartans in a rainy Interstate 8 Conference matchup.

St. Charles East junior Morgan Beers, who went 9 for 17 at the plate with six runs scored, five RBIs and added five stolen bases, is the Kane County Chronicle Athlete of the Week.

St. Charles North baseball secured a three-game series win against Batavia, while St. Charles East won its rubber match against Wheaton North with some late offense. That and more in Wednesday's Kane County Chronicle sports roundup.

Willowbrook's baseball team defeated Addison Trail 5-3 for its 17th straight win, Cannon Madej twirled a complete-game, two-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts for Lemont in a win over Hanover Central, York softball topped Lemont, and more in Wednesday’s Suburban Life sports roundup.

Kankakee's softball team rallied for 10 runs in the final two innings to down Bloom 14-8, Bishop McNamara stayed hot with its third straight win and more in Wednesday's Daily Journal roundup.

Avery Miller allowed just two runs over seven innings, and Glenbard North tacked on seven runs in the first four innings to secure a 7-2 victory over St. Charles East.

Freshman Aubrey McConnell went 4 for 4 with a home run and four RBIs to lead Morris to a 17-2 win over Rochelle

Ottawa defeated L-P 10-7 on Wednesday, April 29, 2026 at the L-P Athletic Complex in La Salle.