By Patrick McGavin- Photos by Jenn-Anne Gledhill
** Additional Phptographs are Available for Purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p172010771 **
JOLIET— The worst thing for a team going up against the Illinois Wolves 13U powerhouse is giving them extra opportunities.
Quite frankly that becomes an invitation to disaster.
The Elite Baseball 13U committed the equivalent of a cardinal sin, in this case two dropped fly balls in the first inning.
The Wolves responded with an explosive five-run inning and never looked back.
“Those dropped fly balls really got us going,” infielder Graham Johnson said. “Even though the wind was blowing in, we were driving it. We did a great job of getting into the box and driving it.”
The Wolves captured the championship game of the Primetime City of Champions with the 7-3 victory on Sunday, June 8 at Inwood Park.
Starter Christian Slazak had two hits, driving in a run and scoring a run. He threw a complete game with four strikeouts, just one walk, and eight scattered hits.
Sixty-seven of the 93 pitches he threw went for strikes. He was efficient and overpowering.
The Wolves (41-5-1) went 5-0 in the three-day tournament, winning both of their pool play games and then winning three straight Sunday.
The team again illustrated its high-level depth with strong pitching, timely hitting and opportunistic scoring chances.
The Elite program was clearly physically and mentally drained by the 13-hour day, shown by the drops of fairly routine fly balls.
By contrast, the Wolves were dialed in and lively.
“At this point, you’re just trying to outlast the other team,” coach Brandin Muniz said. “Luckily we still have some pitching we haven’t used yet, and that gave us a huge advantage. We also had two earlier games end by slaughter rule, and that helped save some of our pitching.”
Slazak was in command from the opening, and showed control, toughness and versatility.
He was a workhorse.
“I pitched yesterday, and they couldn’t hit my curveball,” he said. “My arm was feeling good, and I told the coach I wanted to pitch the whole game. As long as I have runs to back me up, I always feel great out there instead of a tighter situation.”
Slazak drilled an RBI double in the first inning, and a triple in the third inning that he scored with a double by Johnson.
The Wolves had 12 hits, with doubles by Slazak and Johnson, and triples by Slazak and Payton Swartzendruber.
Johnson was 2-for-2 with the RBI and run scored.
Johnson, Slazak and Griff Sinkovich each had two hits.
Spencer Marnell, Matthew Wiskowski, Julien Duque, Jonny Burke, Brady Madden and Payton Swartzendruber had one hit apiece.
The five-run first inning cushion was all the support Slazak required.
“From top to bottom in our batting order, they all came through today,” Muniz said. “In one way or another, they all did something, whether hitting or sacrificing or hustling down the first base line. That extended our innings.”
The nightmarish start for the Elite team was a dream that proved impossible to awake from or overcome.
Reaching on an error, Fred Sackley was moved over to third on a single by Marnell. He scored the opening run on a ground out by Jackson Martin.
Slazak delivered the first major hit with his run scoring double.
After Johnson followed with another gift from a dropped ball, Swartzendruber blasted a two-run triple into deep right center.
“The whole day I felt really good up there,” Swartzendruber said. “I just waited for my pitch, and I smashed it right into the gap. The start we had really helped shoot us up, and gave us the confidence that we could go out and win. Having that much energy just carries us throughout the whole game.”
Sinkovich drove in the fifth run of the inning by beating out an infield hit.
“In a tournament like this, you always look for something that leads to something even bigger,” Swartzendruber said. “Winning the pool play games just taught us about how small things lead to something bigger and more important.”
The Wolves barely flinched when Elite used its own two-run double to pull within 5-2.
Slazak and Johnson stayed hot in the third inning, with Slazak nearly clearing the fence and settling for a triple. Johnson’s RBI double restored the order, and the 6-2 lead.
Slazak closed it out from there, holding Elite scoreless in five of the seven innings.
Muniz had no misgivings or second thoughts about allowing him to finish the game.
“His adrenaline was going, and he just said give me one more inning,” Muniz said. “He earned it.
“When a kid is hot like that, you just leave him in. He threw yesterday, but not a lot, and we made sure to check in on him.”
Showing off his ability to neutralize the Elite batters, Slazak created two ground outs in the seventh inning.
Fittingly he ended the game with a clean pick up of a comeback shot to the mound and the easy throw to first base.
“This was a great tournament—one of the best in Illinois—and it feels really good that we won it,” Slazak said. “I feel like there’s better competition and better pitching in these tournaments. Offensively we could still hit against them.”
The difference in quality depth was the crucial indicator that swung the game.
“At this point, playing your third game of the day, that’s too much of a hole to come out of,” Muniz said. “We are very deep pitching-wise. We get to this point of a tournament, and it really benefits us. We came out ready to go, and jumped on them.”
Upon recording that final out, Slazak led the team to a special ceremony where they collected their Champions awards .
With Slazak, the normal first baseman, at the mound, Duque switched from catcher to first base.
Auggie Ruffolo filled in capably for Duque at catcher.
“It felt great to go undefeated the whole weekend,” Slazak said.
“The whole team had great energy, and we just rode that.”
Their opening game of bracket play saw the Wolves overwhelm a Channahon Indians team 11-0 in 3.5 innings. It kick started a Championship day of winning.
