Friday, July 23, 2010
Sparklers Ready, Aim, Fire Way To EG Heat Tourney
By DWIGHT ESAU Journal Sports
Members of the Des Plaines Sparklers display their runner-up trophies at the Bloomingdale travel softball tournament earlier this month. Kneeling are (from left) Brie Montmarquette, Erin Ross, Abbey Herling, Gina Larucci, Renee Pond, and Paige Carmichael. In back are Ariel Valles, Katie Pack, Holly Wengerski, Kayla Hansen, Kaleigh Duff, Hanna Udischas, and manager Kristen Proffitt.
If you want to see an exciting girls softball event, check out the game between the Des Plaines Sparklers and the Ellyn Phillies Black at 5:30 p.m. today (Friday) at Audubon Park in Elk Grove Village.
It’s the opening game of 16-U pool play in the annual Elk Grove Heat invitational tournament.
These Sparklers won 54 games last summer in one of the finest exhibitions of successful travel softball in Journal-area history. This summer, they are at it again.
The Sparklers won their second tournament of the summer last weekend at the Skokie Slammers Splash tournament. This group of 14-year-olds is compiling another huge season against teams that have players who are usually a couple of years older and more experienced than they are. While they are a group of 14-year-olds. They are not shrinking from competing in the 16-under division at Elk Grove.
At Skokie last weekend, they won nail-biting defensive games, blowouts, shutouts, and everything in-between. And everyone on the team steps up sooner or later and plays a big role in a victory.
In a 15-1 rout of the Leyden Eagles at Skokie, Hanna Udischas blasted 2 big home runs and drove in 5 runs. Brie Montmarquette clubbed a 3-run homer and Katie Pack was 2-for-2 with an RBI.
In a 12-6 win over the Park Ridge Pistols, Abbey Herling stroked 2 hits and drove in 3 runs. Erin Ross belted a 2-run double, Kayleigh Duff ripped a double, and Udischas added a double and triple.
The beat went on. In a 6-0 shutout of the Sauganash Storm, Ariel Valles, who pitched for Maine West High School’s varsity as a freshman this past spring, allowed only one base runner in a complete game shutout. Kayla Hansen contributed 3 assists and a putout. Holly Wengerski was 4-for-4 at the plate and scored 3 times. Renee Pond had 3 hits as the Sparklers finished pool play undefeated.
In a 13-0 shutout of the Evanston Wildkits (including players coach Kristen Proffitt will coach next spring in the high school season), Valles and Duff tossed a one-hit shutout and Paige Carmichael walloped a “prodigious” 2-run homer, Ross blasted a long home run and drove in 4, Wengerski had 3 hits, and Valles, Pond, Montmarquette, and Duff had 2 hits each.
In the semifinals, bats were quieted and things got defensive. In a 3-1 win over the Palatine Patriots. Pond legged out an infield single and raced home on Udischas’ single, and the Sparklers widened their lead to 3-0 on Wengerski’s 2-run base hit an inning later.
In the 7th, the Patriots, started to stir. They scored once and had 2 runners on when a line drive into the right-center gap looked like big trouble. Ross “got on her horse,” cut off the ball and fired a strike to Wengerski, who fired the ball to Udischas at first, who tagged a straying Patriot runner to complete the tense win.
In the title game, the Sparklers outslugged the North Suburban Slammers, 10-6, with a come-from-behind rally. Trailing 3-0 in the third, Singles by Gina Larucci and Wengerski and a bunt by Valles loaded the bases. Larucci beat a force attempt at the plate to score one, Udischas lined an RBI single to plate another, and Ross drove in 2 more to give the Sparklers the lead. Hits by Montmarquette, Carmichael, and Duff completed a 7-run rally.
More hits by Wengerski, Valles, Pond, and Ross put 2 more runs on the board an inning later.
“This tournament championship seemed like a remote possibility,” said manager Kristen Proffitt. “But the players heart and determination again propelled them to unexpected heights.”
The Sparklers-Glen Ellyn game today is part of an 82-team fast-pitch tournament sponsored by the Elk Grove Heat at half-a-dozen parks in Elk Grove Village this weekend. Nearly two-dozen Journal-area teams, including the Sparklers, are involved.