Rain washes out Tuesday events

CHAMPAIGN — A slow, steady rain invaded east central Illinois last night and has camped out over our heads all day. The rain hasn't been fast enough or heavy enough to cause much trouble, but it was enough to cancel the baseball and softball games at Unity and SJ-O tonight.

The Spartans' girls were scheduled to host Tri-Point in their first conference game of the year, while Unity's baseball and softball teams both had games scheduled. The Rockets' baseball team has won five of six and the softball team has won three in a row, but both are now off until games Saturday.

On the track, the Spartans' girls didn't attend tonight's track meet in Clinton, but the boys' team did decide to brave the rain and head over to the home of the Maroons. As of right now, I have no idea if the meet is on or not. If it is, I have to assume the Spartans will run in it — they wouldn't have driven all the way over there to turn around and come home unless they absolutely have to.

Tomorrow's schedule has the SJ-O baseball and softball team hosting games, while the Rockets' athletic teams are off until Saturday. I just checked weather.com, and it looks like it's supposed to be mid-50s and sunny during the day tomorrow. Hopefully the sun is strong enough to dry out the fields, because I'd like the watch some games. Baseball and softball season are always marred by unfairly rough weather, so hopefully the Spartans and Rockets can get all they can out of the good weather we're having (today notwithstanding) this spring.

Spartans win 4x800 relay at IPTT

BLOOMINGTON — Between you and me, I think 2009 is going to be a successful season for track and field at Unity and St. Joseph-Ogden.

The Spartans opened their season in grand fashion Friday, winning the girls 4x800 relay at the Illinois Prep Top Times meet at Illinois Wesleyan's Shirk Center. The SJ-O team of Jolee Paden, Lauren Cessna, Sidney Long and Chelsea Blaase finished the race with a time of 10:00.56.

To open the season with a victory in the indoor state championship is a huge boost for the talented and young Spartan girls' team. Coach Jerry Hewerdine was impressed with his team's talent during early practices when I talked to him a few weeks ago, and I have to imagine winning a state race couldn't hurt that.

Lydia Mitchell and Ashlee Schroyer led the Unity girls at Friday's meet. Mitchell took fifth in the 55 hurdles and Schroyer was sixth in the 55 dash. Both Rockets have been favored among the top performers in their events this season, and validated their rankings with their great performances at IWU.

I think there are a lot of talented runners on both girls' teams this season. Both Unity and SJ-O have larger teams than they've had in past years, and both squads are competitive in a lot of areas. They should be very competitive when outdoor season arrives this week.

And the boys' teams at both schools are great, too.

Zebo Zebe and Chris Ault both took top 10 finishes for the Rockets' boys in the 400 meters Friday, while Nick Blakey was ninth in the triple jump and Caleb Ball and Tom Jean were in the top ten in the pole vault for SJ-O. The two teams also combined to place in five of six relays.

Along with Monticello, I think the Spartans and Rockets are the three best teams in this season's sectional. The teams will battle each other at invitationals and open meets for the next six weeks, and in that time there will be a lot of room for improvement. It should be an entertaining year.

Offense clicking at St. Joseph-Ogden; girls' tournament cancelled

ST. JOSEPH — The bats are heating up in St. Joe.

The Spartans' baseball and softball teams have combined to score 59 runs in only 22 innings over the past three days, helping the boys improve their record to 3-4 and the girls get off to a 2-0 start. I haven't been able to attend ever game, but I have to say, from the looks of the box scores, these wins have been dominance in their simplest form. The Spartans' have just been cooking.

The girls rolled up 15 runs in relatively easy fashion Wednesday in pounding Westville, then tallied 14 runs after spotting Bismarck-Henning a 2-0 lead Thursday. Catcher Hannah Bowen has cracked two homers and already has nine RBIs for the Spartans, putting her on pace for 158 in a 35-game season. And yeah, I know that's not going to happen, but it doesn't change the fact she's still off to a great start. Elizabeth Everingham and Andi Morgan have also went deep for the Spartans. Coach Randy Wolken said Thursday he's excited to have some power in addition to the Spartans' regular dose of speed.

“We’ve always had a run and slap-hitting style offense in the past, but we’ve kind of changed our style a little bit this year because we have a little bit of power,” Wolken said. “We have seven or eight girls that can hit it out.”

The baseball team has its fair share of four-base hit power, too.

The Spartans absolutely crushed CPCI pitching during a conference series this week, erupting for 32 runs in a pair of victories. Austin Griswell had five RBIs in SJ-O's 13-9 win Thursday, and the trio of Jared Orcutt, Blake Hoveln and Eli Marlow went an insane 9-for-10 with RBIs Tuesday (Marlow and Orcutt then added two more RBIs apiece Thursday).

Now I don't know if the Spartans' firepower will be there all year, but I think the teams need to take advantage of the offensive outbursts as long as you can. Baseball and softball are the kinds of sports where absolute domination and complete failure are always just an at bat away. Slumps come, they always come, so I think the Spartans would be advised to ride their hot streaks as long as they can.


UPDATE: The Spartans' softball team will not be playing in the Johnston City Tournament Saturday due to weather conditions.

"They don't think they're going to be able to play at all down there," Wolken said Thursday. "I had a charter bus and hotels rooms and everything, so I had to cancel (to be reimbursed)."

The tournament may go on without SJ-O, weather permitting.

Rockets need to take advantage of upcoming schedule

TOLONO — After slow seasons in 2008, the Unity baseball and softball teams don't need huge seasons this year to show they've improved; but they'd like to have some, anyway.

The Rockets' boys have a goal of winning at least 16 games this season, while the girls would like to win their third regional title in four years. The goals are realistic, but in sports like baseball and softball, what the team's do now we'll be crucial to what they are able to do in May. Baseball and softball rely on momentum, and the earlier a team gets some on their side, the more likely they are to have a big year.

Look at it this way: If the Rockets are able to get on winning streaks now, they'll get to higher win totals faster and get higher seeds come postseason time. Technically there isn't much difference between a No. 2 seed and a No. 4 seed when regionals come (you still have to win to advance), but I'd much rather be a No. 2 seed looking at an undermatched No. 7 than a No. 4 seed stuck with an equally talented No. 5. I mean, there's a reason Nos. 1-3 seeds are 24-0 in the NCAA tournament right now while No. 4 seeds are 5-2 — they just get a better draw.

The Rockets can get to those high seeds in May, but they have to play well now to earn them.

A top seed isn't just given away to the team with a four-game winning streak in early May; and it isn't given to a team that starts 1-10 and ends 10-1. Teams need to be consistently good to get top seeds, and in the Rockets' case, that means they can't risk dropping games they shouldn't. To put it bluntly, Unity needs to win all the games they think they should win, plus maybe steal a game or two against better teams.

Both the baseball and softball teams' schedules set up nicely in the next couple weeks. The baseball team plays a pair of probable regional opponents (Westville, Bismarck-Henning) in bad slumps in the next two weeks, and hosts a tournament at home. The softball team has Centennial Friday, but then hosts Orion for a double header Saturday and Class 1A Arcola Monday. Orion has a good team, but a three-hour drive should make them vulnerable. The Rockets' need to take care of these games while they can, because when the conference season comes around, eight-game winning streaks will be hard to come by.

Spartans will have their hands full at tournament

ST. JOSEPH — The SJ-O softball team won't waste any time before playing quality competition this season. The Spartans are playing in the Johnston City round robin tournament Saturday, and by the looks of the team's involved, it might as well be called "Can you top this?"

The host Lady Indians went 32-3 last year and lost to IHSA Class 2A state champion Carterville in the sectional semifinals. The Indians have played in four state tournaments since 1998, and have won 30 games or more eight times in the last 11 years.

Another tournament opponent, Pinckneyville, has one of the most consistently dominant softball programs in all of Illinois. The Lady Panthers have played in nine state tournaments, have three championship game appearances, and are one the most successful programs of all time. From 1987 to 2005 the Panthers averaged 27 wins (and only seven losses) per season. Though Pinckneyville is still chasing that elusive first championship, the Panthers have more top four finishes than the other three teams in the tournament combined.

The Spartans' last competitor Saturday will be Cumberland. The Pirates' program hasn't been nearly as successful as the tournament's other opponents, but they are building toward future success just like the other schools did. Cumberland has eight regional titles, two sectional crowns and a state tournament appearance under its belt in the last twelve years, and the Pirates have a .718 winning percentage since 2000.

I think the tournament will be a good test for the young and talented Spartans. Head coach Randy Wolken thinks his team has the talent to play in the state tournament, he just doesn't know if they'll be prepared for it or not. This should go far in showing Wolken — and the Spartans — what they're capable of against a quality opponent.

The tournament schedule is as follows:
9 a.m. – Johnston City vs. St. Joseph-Ogden
10:30 a.m. – Pinckneyville vs. Cumberland
12 p.m. – Pinckneyville vs. St. Joseph-Ogden
1:30 p.m. Johnston City vs. Cumberland
3 p.m. – Cumberland vs. St. Joseph-Ogden
4:30 p.m. – Johnston City vs. Pinckneyville

Rice lays down key bunt in win

TOLONO — I remember back when I was in high school, my varsity baseball coach was obsessed with bunting. He made us practice it all the time. We didn't do it much in games — our offense scored a lot of runs, anyway — but whether we were in hitting slump or not, coach always made us practice the bunt.

We had one particular drill where coach would put our ace on the mound, our catcher behind the plate, one batter in the box and everyone else at third base. The pitcher was instructed to throw his fastball past our hitter, and it was his job to get the squeeze bunt down safely so the runner from third could easily score. After every successful bunt, the runner who scored would enter the box and the batter who executed the bunt would get in line at third. Before the drill was over, every last one of us had to get our bunts down. We had 18 guys on our team, which meant we had to go 18 for 18 on bunts before coach would let us go home.

We did this at least once a week; and we got awfully good at bunting.

"It's the little plays that lead to big wins," our coach would always tell us.

Well, I think it's safe to say my high school coach would have been awfully proud of the bunting display put on by Unity Monday. Rockets' catcher Jacob Rice squeezed home Daniel Gaither with the bases loaded and the infield in during the last of the seventh, pushing Unity past Okaw Valley 5-4 in non-conference baseball action.

"We work a lot on bunting so when a situation comes up for us to use it, we want to take advantage of that," Unity baseball coach Dan Cunningham said.

The Rockets tried more than a half a dozen bunts during Monday's game, and even though they weren't perfect on all of them, they were able to get down a key bunt when they needed it.

The play was especially impressive considering the Timberwolves realigned their defense specifically to stop it.

Okaw Valley's coach pulled his team's less-mobile starting third baseman for their starting centerfielder with the bases loaded and Rice up, hoping to increase his infield's athleticism and stop the squeeze from working. With the wind blowing out, Okaw Valley knew a fly ball would end the game anyway, so it made sense to lock down the infield.

The plan didn't seem to bother Rice however, as he had no trouble dropping a fastball between the mound and the plate, easily scoring Gaither with the winning run. The victory improved the Rockets' record to 3-3, and continued their quest toward becoming an Okaw Valley contender.

Whether or not Unity will have the horses for an OVC run remains to be seen, but one thing's for sure: If the Rockets can keep doing the little things, they'll always be competitive.