By JEM- Photos by Jenn-Anne Gledhill
** Additional Photos are Availble for purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p308242143 **
Hoffman Estates— Ted Williams was a premier major league hitter. He was the last man to bat over .400 in 1941. He was exceptional because of his 20/10 vision. His superior eyesight allowed him to identify pitch spin and rotation better than almost any hitter in history. It was said he could read the label on a baseball as it was thrown at him.
Williams claimed the hardest feat in sports was hitting a baseball, requiring elite hand-eye coordination to hit a small, moving object with a round bat.
That could be true, as todays most elite hitters fail to reach base via a hit 7 out of every 10 at-bats.
Baseball is loaded with things that are very difficult to do. Pitching a perfect game, striking out 20 batters, hitting four home runs in a game, an unassited triple play, and a few others but all have at one time been done but it’s rare.
Hitting for the cycle (single, double, triple and home-run) in a game is also among the rare feats of baseball.
On Monday, April 20 against the Northwest Travelers, Illinois Wolves 12U’ Jackson Donkin hit for the cycle. Joining those very few who have accomplished the extremely rare feat. His impressive feat led an eruption of hits he and his teammates spewed all over the Travelers diamond in the 24-13 thrashing.
The 26 hits were a display of what this group is capable of every game.
Whether the stars were aligned or a rabbits foot was found or a horseshoe was in someones batbag, or quite possibly, the talent finally hit its stride, one thing was for sure, it was an impressive display throughout.
For Donkin, he knew in his last at-bat in the top of the seventh inning what he needed. He mentioned to his father standing near the backstop that he needed a double for the cycle. On the very first offering, he pasted a ball to left-center in the gap that gave him the needed double to complete the cycle as his teammates cheered loudly.
“I was focused on hitting the ball and putting it in play,” said Donkin. “I was seeing the ball pretty good today, had a good warmup. I like attacking first pitch and being aggressive. I’m just attacking what pitch is thrown. I get better with Tee work. Hitting for the cycle today did mean a lot to me because it was my first one and not a lot of players do it. I thought my homer I hit was the one I got the best swing on.”
Donkin also stated that he can improve. The larger-statured 12-year-old plays good defense at first base and carries a big stick but added;
“I think I can get a little faster running.”
In five at-bats, Donkin grabbed a Single, Triple, Homerun, Single and finally a Double—Five hits in Five at-bats. Scored four runs and drove in five RBI’s. Not a bad days work on the diamond!
Donkin provide five hits but there were others that added 21 other hits to the stat sheet.
Wolves starting Pitcher Jude Dues found some difficulties on the mound. His first inning saw him give up four runs while giving up three hits and a pair of walks. He lasted one inning on the mound, but the opposite was happening at the plate for him.
He was mostly stellar up at bat, grabbing three consecutive hits before grounding out in his last at-bat. Jude drove in a run as well, contributing to the run barrage.
“I think on the mound I wasn’t locating and kinda not locked in,” said Dues. “I think I need to do better locating on the mound and throwing strikes. Batting, I was just trying to make contact. I was trying to hit the ball because I haven’t been lately, so I was trying to get some hits. I thought today I was doing well with my hitting but I need to work on my pitching some more. I get into my head when I start falling behind so I need to concentrate and stay focused and throw the ball.”
Another adding his hits to the tally was Greyson Johnson. Johnson went 3-5 with a single, double and triple on the day, just a homer shy of the cycle himself. Johnson also drove in three runs while scoring twice.
Greyson is a display of power at the bat and has the ability to hit bad pitches. He hammered a high pitch most wouldn’t attempt to hit over the left fielder for a triple in his first time up. When he connects cleanly, balls fly away.
Defensively, Johnson is a good fielder and can judge a hit ball playing the outfield well.
“Sometimes when I catch the ball in the outfield, I just want to throw the ball in, and I just throw it and it is sometimes wild where I’m throwing it,” said Johnson. “Hitting, the pitchers are trying to get ahead, so I’m trying to be aggressive but also wait back a lot for a pitch to hit. I think we just need to start hitting better as we did today and get on a roll. Errors have hurt us, we’ve had a lot. We need improvement defensively but this team has a lot of potential where we can win a lot of games.”
The Wolves opened the game with a five spot. Hits by Cole Wolf, Donkin, Johnson and JJ Murcio, produced five runs. A little help with walks and an error by the host didn’t hurt either. The Travelers countered with four runs of their own in their at-bats . After an inning, the Wolves led 5-4.
The second inning was a quiet one for the visitors, gaining just a Dues single in four tries.
Johnny Ziroli Replaced Dues on the mound and proceeded to stike out the first two batters he faced and force a ground out to second for a smooth 3-and-out to maintain the lead.
The third inning saw the Wolves once again cross the plate with multiple runs on three hits by Donkin, Johnson and Riley Robinson who each grabbed an RBI for three runs, to up the Wolves lead to 8-4.
Ziroli was still firing in strikes and making short work of the Travelers batters. He K’d the first two again and forced a pop fly to Johnson in right field to retire the side one, two, three.
The Wolves continued to pile up hits off the Travelers pitching. A 4-hit fourth inning by Wolf, Ziroli, Mason Munch and Dues added a solo run to increase the lead to 9-4.
Ziroli’s third inning in relief did see him gve up a hit and a run but he still was in control and limiting what the Travelers were able to do. He coaxed a pop-out to shortstop and a soft fly to right and finished with another strikeout, as the Wolves now led 9-5 after four innings.
Eight batters came to the plate for the Wolves in their fifth inning. Four hits by Donkin, Tomasino Urso, Murcio and Ziroli produced four runs, elevating the Wolves lead to 13-5.
A homer by Donkin and triple by Ziroli were the big hits of the inning with Ziroli having two RBI’s.
The Travelers finally got to Ziroli who was in his fourth inning of relief. Fatigue may have been the issue for Ziroli who gave up four runs on three hits. He still managed to get through the inning to maintain the Wolves lead at 13-9 after five innings.
Ziroli would end up going four innings and provide some quality pitching. He mixed up pithches and was able to show velocity, striking out six, allowing 5-runs, 4-hits and a pair of walks in four innings.
“At the end, I just couldn’t really locate and I couldn’t throw my curve ball, I wasn’t throwing it out front,” said Ziroli. “In some ways I think I’m a pretty good pitcher. I think I can throw kinda fast and have control and I feel I have a nice curveball when I throw it out front. I’m happy with how we played, We just need to keep our energy and confidence.”
The sixth inning saw the Wolves again add four more runs on five hits. Dues started with his third straight hit of the game. After a flyout, James Burns singled that scored Dues. Caliel Verela followed with a single then Donkin drove them in with his single to center. Johnson added a double to complete the five runs scored when Donkin crossed the plate on the Johnson hit.
With the lead now 17-9, Urso came on in relief of Ziroli to handle the last two innings.
Urso also made short work of the Travelers batters, starting with a strike out, a comebacker to him and a grounder to shortstop for the third out.
The Wolves put the game on ice when they crossed the plate seven times to elevate the score to 24-9. Because it was the last inning, the host would still have their at-bats.
The seven runs scored by the Wolves featured five hits. A triple by Varela crossed two runs and a bases-clearing double by Burns added three more runs. Ziroli added the other two RBI’s with his single that scored both Carter Behling and Murcio. The Wolves sent 11-batters to the plate in their last at-bats.
Urso took to the mound to end the game but struggled to find the strike zone which gave the hosts an opportunity to score some runs. They did just that scoring four times but their was no panic for the Wolves, Urso continued throwing, found the strike zoe and managed to strike out the side to end the game.
The 24-13 win showed just what this 2026 version of the 12U Wolves are capable of doing with every player contributing to this Victory!
They followed this victory with another one-sided win, dispatching the Warriors 10-2 in Park Ridge on April 22.
