By Bobby Narang-Photos by Renee Kaspar
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Baseball was the main attraction at McCaslin Park on Tuesday.
All four fields were busy with championship level games across various ages.
Maybe that’s why Tom Bushka had a big smile on his face for most of the afternoon and evening.
Bushka, the President of the West Suburban Baseball League (WSBL), said the organization has grown significantly since it started in 2007.
“We had 64 teams in 2007 with only 10U, 11U and 12U,” Bushka said on a picture-perfect night. “This year we roughly have 495 teams and have expanded from 8U to 14U now. We have teams from Palos Heights to Beverly to Yorkville to Schaumburg and Maple Park.”
Bushka said Championship Day is once a year but includes 17 total games. The title day features one game for 8U and 9U, while 10U, 11U, 12U, 13U and 14U have three games in each age group.
“I don’t think we ever thought it would be something like this,” Bushka said. “We’ve all had our boys go through (here). When we started, I don’t think we ever thought we would be at 500 teams. When my son, Bret, played 10 years ago, we had 240 or so teams. Then, all of a sudden, there it went gradually to 300 and then went to 400 right away. Several areas we absorbed those teams. We’ve had people join our league strictly because we hold teams accountable and our rules.”
Steve Johnson, the Direction of Legal Affairs, said one of the main selling points for teams in the league is having accountable for their actions, especially with the umpires.
“The whole idea for us is developing character and sportsmanship,” Johnson said. “We take that stuff every seriously. We take a very firm stance to respect the umpires, be good human beings and also to play fundamentally good baseball. We take that position with seriousness that it’s a real positive because it’s not acceptable to have that type of (negative) behavior. It’s been fantastic.”
In the case of the 12U Illinois-Lisle Wolves youth baseball team, the final day of the season was not a game to remember. The Wolves, who had several strong showings in tournaments this season, including in the King of the Rock in Wisconsin, came out flat on Tuesday night.
Maybe it was the late start of the game, with the first pitch delayed by 56 minutes because of the previous game.
Or the Wolves overlooked their opponent – the Hinsdale Devils Club Black – because they had beaten them twice in the two regular-season games.
Or just the Wolves had a bad game, and the Devils played at a high level.
In the end, it was a combination of all the above.
The Devils started fast, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning and kept hitting the ball, playing strong in the outfield and infield and receiving quality pitching. The Devils pulled out a 9-0 victory in a shortened game against the Wolves in the 12UAAA title game.
The Wolves, who defeated the Devils 4-1 and 10-6 this season, struggled in all aspects of the game and also had some bad luck in the defeat to end their season in disappointment.
Even so, the Wolves (45-14-2) can look back at the 2024 season with happiness, joy and satisfaction, according to coach Brandin Muniz.
Tyler Sokoinicki started the game but was roughed up by the Red Devils. Christian Slazak came on in relief but was unable to slow down the home team.
“Our pitching could not hit their spots at all, so we had to feed into what the (opponent) was good at and that’s hitting fastballs,” Muniz said. “Our curveballs weren’t just going over. We were heavy down in the count and missing spots. We had some bad pitches that they turned on. We couldn’t capitalize on our pitching and that just fed into them, and we dug a hole.
“I think their starter did a great job and did really well. Our kids, for whatever reason, wouldn’t swing the bat or swing the bat hard. I think that was the difference in the game. They swung the bat aggressively, and we didn’t.”
The Wolves continued their season-long trend of struggling to play aggressive after falling into an early deficit. The Red Devils relied on two pitchers to keep the Wolves’ bats at bay, while continuing to score runs. The Red Devils added two runs in the second for a 5-0 lead, another un in the third and a three-spot in the fourth.
Meanwhile, the Wolves couldn’t take advantage of anything in their favor. Michael Petrbok drilled a deep flyball to centerfield in the first inning, but the long-ball was an out due to the large dimensions. Graham Johnson walked in the first, but star Christian Slazak hit a soft hopper up the middle that looked like a run-scoring hit, but the ball smacked hard off the back of the pitching mound and ricocheted right to the shortstop who threw out Slazak at first to end the inning.
In the second inning, Griff Sinkovich drilled a double to right field to open the inning. The right-hander was batting fifth in the lineup, but he was left stranded at third after a groundout and two straight strikeouts.
From that moment, the Wolves’ offense struggled to get baserunners.
“It just didn’t fall for us the way we wanted,” Muniz said. “We wanted the top of our order to come around a little bit more. By the time it did, we were down a lot. (Hinsdale) played us really well. I think going forward, as our kids get older and learn, they will learn they have to manufacture runs by bunting, stealing and putting the ball in play. They are young and they will learn that lesson.”
In the fifth, Sinkovich singled with one out but was stranded following two straight popouts in end the game.
Sinkovich said the team should hold their heads high because they had some amazing moments together, on and off the diamond.
“We didn’t come to play,” Sinkovich said. “In warmups, we goofed around too much because we beat these guys twice. They came out swinging and we didn’t. We had some tough luck. It hurts because I’m going to miss some of these guys on the team. I’m going to miss them. We have a really good bond. We played well throughout the season, made friendships and memories. Overall, it was a very good season.
“We all got better. I got better at shortstop and started playing in right field. I never thought I would play in the outfield. I’m going to miss these guys.”
Muniz said the tough loss in the title game doesn’t tarnish the memorable run his team had. The season started with indoor practices in February, then the first game in the opening week of April. The Wolves were consistent, won several big games and showed a lot of chemistry, Muniz said.
“We had a good season,” Muniz said. “Being year one, these kids haven’t played together. We played against teams that have been together for a while. We will get better. We’re moving some chips around and learning. Year two will be positive for us. We had several kids with great seasons. We had some kids that really carried the team this year. Griff and Graham Johnson really did. Johnny Burke really filled a hole in the outfield for us. He was super clutch. Obviously, Christian with a big bat and big arm, was really dominant, especially at first base by picking a lot of things. We definitely had some guys that carried the team.”
