By Ed Muniz- Photos by Renee Kaspar
**Additional photos are available for purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p466418507**
A bevy of baseball games were featured on May 19, 20 and 21 at the Elgin Sports Complex in Elgin.
Seminole Sports hosted the “Elgin Slugfest” baseball tournaments for ages 8U through 14U.
Teams would play a couple of play-in games and then the second day would be a win and continue play format, so each team was guaranteed 3-games minimum.
Among the 8U teams were the Schaumburg Flyers headed by Coach Wimmer and the Park Ridge Jr. Hawks Black led by Coach Brian Wsol.
For the Flyers, this would be their opening game of the tournament while the Jr. Hawks Black had already registered a win earlier in the tournament.
In tournament play, there is usually a time limit on each game and most of the time, especially at this level games reach their time limit. But that wasn’t the case in this game.
Surprisingly, the pitching by both teams and hitting kept the game moving with limited walks and balls being put in play for a complete 6-inning game.
The result was an 8-6 come from behind win by the Jr. Hawks Blacks earning their second win of the tournament.
A huge 7-run, fourth inning catapulted the Jr. Hawks Black to the lead after trailing 5-0.
The deficit was mainly because of the pitching of Flyers pitcher Bradley Wimmer.
The Flyer starter was consistently by the plate which gave ample opportunities to the Jr. Hawks Black batters to put the ball in play, unfortunately for them, Wimmer was hard to hit, striking out 8 batters, giving up just one hit and walking one.
“I guess I was good today,” said the diminutive pitcher. “I guess I could throw all strikes to be better. I’m just throwing the ball, maybe I could throw a little harder. I just practice to get better.”
The 8-year-old pitcher didn’t have much to say as it was apparent his play did all the talking while he was on the mound.
Wimmer also wasn’t bad at the plate, singling once and reaching base twice, scoring both times.
With the removal of Wimmer, the Jr. Hawks Black found the relief pitching to their liking.
All ten of their batters made plate appearances with back-to-back singles by Parker Wsol and Garret Leng, starting the comeback, but it was walks and a throwing error on a comeback to the Flyers pitcher that opened the flood gates with bases loaded that gave the Park Ridge team a leg up.
When all said and done, seven runs had crossed the plate which included Vinnie Minotti, Sam Kelly, George Hickey, James Grippo and Angelo Schihino.
Markos Crowe also added a single in the inning.
Once with the lead, The Jr. Hawks Black went to Grippo to hold the lead and he did just that. He was consistently around the plate as well and proceeded to strike out the side in the Flyers fourth.
He did give up a run in the following inning but struck out five in his two-inning stint.
“I think my load-up is pretty good as I pitch,” said the lefty pitcher. “I focus on the catchers’ glove when I’m pitching but I can get better by practicing more. I like to rest when I pitch afterwards. I have good fielders behind me, I think I have a pretty good team.”
Lead-off hitter Parker Wsol led his team offensively. He singled and doubled and managed to score twice.
“I thought I was good at hitting,” said Wsol. “I use the Tee to warm up. I like the pitches right down the middle and I get good hits that way. I probably could be better knocking down the ball when I’m in the field. Our team is hitting the ball well, but we need to work on our fielding.”
The Flyers did jump ahead 5-0 and looked to be cruising at the half-way point of the game. Behind stellar pitching by Wimmer and three hits by Dylan Baker, which included a double, the Flyers were in total control early on.
The Flyers jumped ahead 1-0 with Wimmer scoring on Bakers hit after one inning. They added four more runs in the third inning after two outs.
Wimmer again was on base with a single and crossed the plate when Baker again drove a ball to right field for a double. With the Jr. Hawks Black struggling to get the ball back to the infield, Baker kept running and never stopped until he too scored on the same play.
“I’m trying to look for pitches that are in the zone,” said Baker. “I can hit the balls down the middle. I try to not swing at every pitch, I need to work on that. On the mound I was frustrated, I can’t do that, I have to try and not get frustrated. It was too bad we let that game get away.”
Scoring for the Flayers also included Jacob Dziagwa, Adam Galindo and Reed Rybarczyk.
Also giving their all for the Flyers were Grayson Pedro, Oliva Rasmussen, Nate Stankiewicz, Jayden Blackwell, and Zain Hasan.
Coach Wsol added about his team: “The team never quits; we were down five and they came all the way back. We play really good defense; we throw strikes, and we are really competitive. Where we could use a little boost is at the plate. I think the kids are a little anxious and over swinging at times. Really proud of all the boys.”
Other Jr. Hawks Black contributing in the comeback win included Patrick O’Connor, Sammy Angarone and Brady Thomas.
