Tough road for Arlington in county

Seeing Arlington in the Cook County American Legion championship game has become a given.

But the two-time defending county and reigning state champion doesn't figure to be given a free pass into this year's title game.

Arlington (34-8) is the top seed in the eight-team, double-elimination that starts with 4 p.m. games today at various sites. It ends with Saturday's championship at 11 a.m. at Recreation Park in Arlington Heights.

But No. 2 Elk Grove (31-4), No. 3 Wilmette (35-6) and No. 4 Palatine (23-13) all are formidable obstacles to keeping Arlington from its ninth crown in 10 years.

All games in the five-day tourney are nine innings, and the winner goes to next week's state tourney in Mattoon.

"In our division you have four teams at least that can go downstate and do well," said Palatine coach Jeff Ryder.

"The top four could easily win it," said Elk Grove coach Brian Mucha.

Arlington opens at Rec Park against Cicero, which beat Portage Park in a play-in game Saturday. Arlington coach Lloyd Meyer said he planned to start Kyle Gaedele today and hoped to get a variety of pitchers some work.

Meyer said matchups would determine when he started Scott Winters or Trace Ruffie (10-0). Another key is Valparaiso-bound Will Hagel, whose availability is in question because of a sore left arm that required an MRI.

"Unless it's a real good pitcher we can score some runs," Meyer said. "But pretty good pitching will hold you in and (Wilmette and Elk Grove) have got two good pitchers that can hold you to 2 or 3 runs or shut you out.

"We're going to have to shut people out and I think we're capable."

And Arlington may have a more formidable attack than last year with power threats Winters and Tim Scanlan hitting seventh and eighth behind Gaedele, UIC-bound shortstop Jason Ganek, Matt Serna and Hagel.

Elk Grove has never won the county title in its eight-year existence and finished second last year. But it has a solid 1-2 mound punch in Will Osmanski and Duke-bound Grant Monroe.

Elk Grove will start righty Derek Wojcik against No. 7 Mount Prospect (7-18) today at Prospect High School. Wojcik, who will be a junior at Conant, threw 2 shutout innings in a 13-7 win in their first meeting.

"He throws strikes," Mucha said, "and the guys have got confidence in him."

But Elk Grove knows this is no pushover since it only won 3-1 in the last meeting against lefty Rhombus Harloff. Prospect coach Dan Aloisio said he would start Harloff or righty Tim Keyes today against the hard-hitting Red Sox lineup led by shortstop Shawn Moy.

"Rhombus has always pitched well against Elk Grove but we never give him runs," Aloisio said. "We're just not scoring runs at all. We've had opportunities but we're not getting timely hits."

Prospect has a big bat in Valparaiso-bound Ryan O'Gara but lost shortstop Zach Borenstein to a back injury three weeks ago.

The hottest team is Palatine, which has won 11 of 12 and hosts No. 5 Northbrook at Palatine High School.

Palatine lost both meetings but now has Northwestern-bound lefty Matt Gailey to start today while Northbrook is down to 12 healthy players.

"We're a completely different team now," Ryder said. "We're peaking at the right time this time."

Chad Treutler has done that at the plate and on the mound. Charlie Limjoco, Kyle Lindsay and Matt St. John give Palatine pitching depth, and Andy Wulbecker is a force in the middle of the lineup.

Wilmette beat Arlington for the 2004 title, and standout pitchers Paul Duncan and Trey Frahler helped New Trier finish second in the Class AA state tourney. The Waves host No. 6 Evanston at Northwestern.

Cook County tournament

Today's 4 p.m. games

G1: Cicero vs. Arlington at Rec Park

G2: Northbrook vs. Palatine at Palatine High School

G3: Mount Prospect vs. Elk Grove at Prospect High School

G4: Evanston vs. Wilmette at Northwestern

Wednesday's 4 p.m. games (at higher seeds)

G5: Winners 1 & 2

G6: Winners 3 & 4

G7: Losers 1 & 2 (loser eliminated)

G8: Losers 3 & 4 (loser eliminated)

Thursday (at Rec Park)

G9: Loser 5 vs. Winner 8, noon (loser eliminated)

G10: Loser 6 vs. Winner 7, 3:30 p.m. (loser eliminated)

G11: Winners 5 & 6, 7 p.m.

Friday (at Rec Park)

G12: Loser 11 vs. Winner 9, 3 p.m. (loser eliminated)

G13: Winner 11 vs. Winner 10, 7 p.m.

Saturday (at Rec Park)

G14: Championship, 11 a.m. (another game at 2 p.m. if necessary)