By Bobby Narang- Photos by Renee Kaspar
** Additional Photos are Available for Purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p794759938 **
FRANKLIN, Wis. – The 12-player Illinois Wolves 13U baseball team gathered together along the third-base line on Sunday night. One by one, the Wolves hung their heads down.
Nobody was smiling. There were no hugs. No celebrations.
Nothing.
The Wolves were mad, disappointed, frustrated and, just maybe, motivated.
After playing three excellent baseball games in a two-day tournament at The Rock Complex, the Wolves experienced the other side of sports.
Nothing worked in their favor on Sunday against STIKS Black, of Wisconsin, in the championship game. Errors, mental miscues, baserunning blunders, mistakes on the mound, lack of aggressiveness at times at the plate all played a factor in the Wolves earning a second-place medal.
Of course, STIKS Black blamed a big part in the Wolves’ long night, playing excellent baseball, showing off power and speed and getting quality pitching to hand the Wolves their first defeat of the season.
For the Wolves, the second-place medal was not a moment to celebrate a strong weekend – at least not in the immediate aftermath of the defeat. The Wolves won their first three games in the tourney in impressive fashion, combining excellent pitching, solid fielding and powerful swings to represent Chicagoland in a memorable way.
Yet, after the tough first defeat of the season, the Wolves, including their coaches, were pointing toward a fresh start. The Wolves play five games next week, aiming to put the bad feeling from Sunday’s title game loss behind them.
Illinois Wolves 13U coach Brandin Muniz said the entire team was disappointed in the final result, but he witnessed tremendous growth from his players during the weekend.
“This is part of the growing thing,” Muniz said. “I think this is what they need. They need to fail and learn how to make the adjustments and learn from those failures. This is only going to make us stronger. They don’t like this feeling. I don’t like this feeling. I think the next time we play on Monday, they will come out strong.
“Even though we were only here for two days, it’s two long days and it’s cold. It’s not great baseball weather and things happen. It’s tough to lose, but this is the adversity we have to face to get over and be the team we know we can be.”
From the opening pitch, the Wolves fell into an early hole. STIKS Black featured a strong mix of players, starting with several smaller speedy guys, to three big, strong and powerful hitters to a deep and talented pitching staff.
The Wisconsin team jumped all over Illinois Wolves starter Jackson Martin. The tall right-hander pitched strong, but STIKS Black strung together five hits in the first inning to put a four-spot on the board in the top of the first inning.
The Wolves trailed 5-0 before coming to bat for the second time in the game, but they showed their resiliency and fortitude by answering with two runs to cut the gap to 5-2. With their fans glamouring for a comeback, the Illinois Wolves went to work via Johnny Burke’s two-run single off the pitcher’s hand, which caused STIKS Black starter to leave the game after falling to the ground.
The Wolves added another run in the bottom of the third on Martin’s RBI groundout to the shortcut, cutting the deficit to 5-3. Before Martin’s groundout, Fred Sackley singled and Michael Petrbok beat out an infield roller for a single.
STIKS Black, though, put the game out of reach with four runs in the fourth inning. Petrbok pitched one inning in relief, striking out the side and walking a batter but STIKS Black had already done the damage to run away with a six-run win before the game was called due to the 105-minute time limit.
“We really wanted to win the finals, but we played hard,” Brady Madden said.
Slazak, who pitched a complete game on Saturday, said it was a disappointing way to end a big weekend full of highs.
“We did pretty good this weekend,” Slazak said. “Our pitching was pretty good, but our hitting could’ve been better in this last game.”
Petrbok had a solid weekend at the plate, plus showed off his arm with a solid inning of work in the title game.
“We hit pretty well until the last game,” Petrbok said. “We had a good weekend.”
Burke said the Wolves took a big step in the right direction in the two-day tourney.
“I feel we should win every tournament because of our overall talent,” Burke said. “Our pitching is super deep. The other team really hit the ball well. We just didn’t adjust in the championship game. We needed to adjust.”
Catcher Julien Duque had a good spot to watch the Illinois Wolves’ starters have a strong weekend, combining for three complete games and a big-time gutty game from Martin in the title contest.
“Our pitching is very good, from the speed to the movement to the accuracy,” Duque said.
After being moved to the leadoff position for Sunday’s two games, Sackley said he was happy to contribute to a memorable weekend.
“I think our energy got low toward the beginning of the game and they scored runs on us,” Sackley said. “We needed more energy. Coach told me I’ve been hitting well, so it felt good to get a few big hits. I think this last game was an eye-opener for us. We know if we play like that, then we’re going to lose. We have to stay (focused).”
