ESCC honors 11; Friedrichs, Martin in softball spotlight

Eleven ambassadors of the high school sports experience will receive keys in nine days that unlock the door to a special place.

The East Suburban Catholic Conference (ESCC) will induct its third group of distinguished honorees into its Athletic Hall of Fame on Thursday, March 6.

The banquet will be held at the Crystal Sky Banquet Hall, 7941 W. 47th St., McCook, Ill.

The Hall of Fame was established in 2006 to honor and pay tribute to the schools, athletes, coaches and administrators who have helped make the ESCC a strong and viable organization, which has promoted the best in boys and girls high school athletics.

The Hall of Famers have earned the honor and respect of many people whose lives they have impacted and touched through their athletic involvement and overall accomplishments.

Mike Taylor, soccer coach at St. Viator, and Jim Halford, cross country and track coach at Carmel, are two of the 11 members of the 2008 class.

Other Hall of Famers:

Joseph Fedinec, Benet Academy.

Dana Ballard, Fenwick.

Emily Marino, Joliet Catholic.

Kathryn Gleason, Marian Catholic.

Al Brazen, Marist.

Augie Genovesi, Notre Dame.

Tony Reeder, St. Joseph.

George Strand, St. Joseph.

Doug Reibel, St. Patrick.

Tickets are $50 each.

For banquet information, contact Mike Hennessey at Notre Dame High School, (847) 779-8652 or e-mail mhennessey@ndhsdons.org.

Softball

Larry Friedrichs, head coach at Stevenson, was inducted into the Illinois Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and Brenda (Cognac) Martin, head coach at Prospect, was named one of the 2007 Class AA coaches of the year at the awards banquet held in Morton, Ill.

Friedrichs, an Elk Grove graduate, is one of the most successful softball coaches in state history with close to 400 victories at Stevenson.

Martin, who starred as an all-area catcher at Schaumburg, guided Prospect to a school-record 30 wins last spring, their first regional title since 1999 and ninth overall.

Prospect played Stevenson in the regional title game last May and won 2-1 in nine innings.

Joining Friedrichs in the 2008 Hall of Fame class are Lee Maciejewski of Glenbard West, Jack Olson of Midwest Central, Brenda Whitesell of Hinsdale South and Ron Steffen of Beardstown.

The Hall of Fame umpires are Nick Finck of Maroa, Darwin Powell of Rockford, James Turner of Marion, Richard Schwab of East Peoria and Sally Walker of Monticello.

• Nicole Pauly (Palatine), who had a big year last spring at Northwestern, is off to a fast start in 2008. She went 10-for-31 (.323) with 2 homers, 10 runs and 12 RBI in the first nine games on the road.

Basketball

Bryan Yelvington (Hersey) of Kenyon College scored 52 points in two games and was named North Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Week. He had a career game against Hiram College, shooting 12-14 from the floor and 10-10 at the line for a career-high 34 points. He also had 9 rebounds and 3 assists. Three days later, he scored a game-high 18 points and had 6 rebounds for the school's first win against Wittenberg University since 1994.

bull; Former Buffalo Grove teammates played on the same court for the last time as senior Kelly McIntyre (Loras College) and sophomore Kristin Paczosa (Cornell College) both started the conference game at Cornell. Kelly had 9 points and 5 rebounds and Kristin had a double-double with 10 points, 13 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots.

Also playing for Cornell were sophomore Charlotte Milas (Rolling Meadows) with 8 points and 5 rebounds and freshman Melanie Duplessis (Warren) with 22 points and 4 rebounds.

In the previous game against Coe College, Paczosa had 8 points and 12 rebounds, Milas had 14 points and Duplessis added 16.

bull; Kevin Polit (Hersey) of Savannah College of Art and Design had a memorable senior night with 14 points and a team-high 8 rebounds and 8 assists against Edward Waters College. He also had a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds) against Florida Memorial University.

bull; Beth Lucas (Hersey) of Lake Forest scored 11 points and added 5 rebounds, 3 assists and a pair of steals against Carroll College and had 15 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals against Monmouth.

bull; Alex Washington (Wheeling) scored 17 points for Augustana College against North Central.

bull; Sophomore Jake Pancratz (Schaumburg) of the University of Chicago had 10 points in a 74-66 victory over No. 6 Brandeis University.

Track and field

Amanda LaRocca (Palatine), sophomore at Illinois Wesleyan, set two school records in the indoor track season. She ran the 55 meters in 7.19 at the Keck Invite and the 55-meter high hurdles in 8.25 at DePauw. Both marks are ranked in the top six nationally in Division III.

bull; A'Seret Dokubo (Conant) of Southern Illinois University Carbondale set a new season and personal-best in the 3,000-meter run with 9:57.80 at the Iowa State Classic. Lauren Martin (Conant) of Indiana State University took third in the triple jump at 41-1.

Baseball

Duke freshman Grant Monroe (Schaumburg) picked up his first collegiate pitching victory in a 10-1 win over Iona. He went five innings, striking out three.

bull; Sophomore Ryan Copeland (Elk Grove) threw 5 innings of 5-hit ball (4 strikeouts, no walks) in Illinois State's 8-5 victory over Tennessee Tech. He also picked off two runners.

Softball

Freshman Kailey Kassner (Conant) of the University of Memphis hit her first collegiate homer (250-foot shot over the right-center fence) in her third start at first base. She had 11 putouts at first and added a walk to earn the game's MVP honors against Alabama AM in the Blues City Classic.

Youth football

The Maine Township Warriors, a new youth football and cheer organization in Des Plaines that is part of Pop Warner, offers a program for ages 5-14. There also is a new level for 12-14 that has no weight minimum or maximum and is called Unlimited.

The cheer program for girls is for 5-14.

The group covers the communities of Des Plaines, Park Ridge, Niles, Elk Grove and Mt. Prospect.

Pop Warner is the largest youth football program in the country and has its national championships held at Walt Disney World in Florida.

There will be certified coaches for football, and the cheer and football teams are formed by age and weight. Cheer teams are determined based on age and no tumbling or experience is required.

Registration is Saturday, March 15 from 9 a.m. to noon at Central Elementary School, 1526 Thacker Avenue, Des Plaines.

The ages are based as of July 31. Competitive ages are 9-14. Instructional ages are 5-9.

All participants must bring a birth certificate, physical (dated after Jan. 1, 2008) and a final report card.

The league does offer limited help based on financial hardship.

Go online to eteamz.active.com/MaineTownshipWarriors or e-mail to warriorprez@yahoo.com.