Hoffman's Cortese chases national title

Hoffman Estates senior Natalie Cortese was one of four bowlers Saturday to advance to the finals of the 2008 Denny's All-American High School Championships.

Cortese and Samantha Santoro of Reinholds, Pa., advanced to the television finals, which will be taped today after the conclusion of the U.S. Open at Brunswick Carolier Lanes in North Brunswick, N.J.

Cortese went 6-2 in round-robin match play and rolled a 256 in her final game. Santoro also went 6-2 in match play.

The winner receives a $3,000 scholarship and the second-place finisher gets a $2,000 scholarship.

The boys and girls winners also get to compete with Professional Bowlers Association players Kelly Kulick and Tony Reyes in a doubles match to close the telecast, which is scheduled to air at noon on April 6 on ESPN.

The Denny's All-American High School Championships showcase 32 varsity high school athletes from 18 states.

Baseball

St. Viator baseball coach Mike Manno had some news for his team between games of a nonconference home double-header with Ashwaubenon (Wis.).

"I told them you're the first time I've had that's been over .500 (this far into a season)," said Manno, whose first two teams started 2-10 and 2-12. "Then I told them, 'You've got to stay here now.'"

Viator (3-1) took a good step in that direction as it won the opener 11-3 and completed a sweep 3-1 in a game called after 4½ innings because of darkness.

A 2-run homer by Nick Skala and a solo homer by Jack Meyer highlighted a 6-run first in the opener. Brett Kay, Marty Lavelle and Kevin Dettloff had 2 hits apiece.

Eric Huber allowed a run and a hit in 3 innings for the win. Junior Matt Pagano had 4 strikeouts in 2 innings.

In the second game, Eric Walantas scattered 4 hits and had 5 strikeouts and a walk in 5 innings.

"He threw well and kept the ball down," Manno said.

Viator used its speed and took advantage of an error in a 3-run second where Phil Bar had an RBI single.

"One thing we did today was we ran well," Manno said. "I thought we played well."

Prospect 15, Niles North 0: Senior Steve Latos threw the first 4 innings of a 5-inning no-hitter in host Prospect's nonconference victory.

Latos had 3 strikeouts before junior Erich Schwarzebeck came in for the last inning.

"(Latos) pitched really well," said Prospect coach Ross Giusti. "He was working ahead of the hitters with his fastball and his changeup was outstanding. He was getting a lot of ground balls for us."

Prospect (2-1) had a 10-run third and Griffin Rebecca provided the big hits with a 2-run inside-the-park homer and a double.

Badminton

Fremd's badminton team set three goals before the season got underway:

1. Repeat as Mid-Suburban League champion.

2. Win its seventh sectional title in a row.

3. Qualify again for the state meet where the Vikings hope to repeat as champions.

But there are other goals.

With a number of newcomers up and down their roster, the Vikings look forward to invitationals and quad meets for other reasons.

"Every time you step on the court, you have a chance to win," said Vikings' coach Bob Hanson, whose team placed second with 27 points at the Schaumburg Saxon Invitational, 9 behind tournament champion Hinsdale South. "We take each invitational as a learning process."

Right behind Fremd was Buffalo Grove with 24 points.

Femd's Jenna Langhorst finished second, her only loss coming to Hinsdale's Kirsten Jason. And Langhorst completed that feat after feeling ill all week.

"I kind of felt sick over break," said Langhorst, who before Saturday had won two individual titles and one quad title. "I was just being real competitive, I guess. I just tried to play through it."

Langhorst's toughest match?

"Hinsdale South was really tough," she said. "I did manage to split. She was really strong and she was a lot bigger than me so she had a really good smash. I tried to drop her. That worked well. I figured it out in the third game."

Leading the way for the Bison were their doubles teams.

At first doubles, Katie Meyers and Nicole Wodka placed second. Things were even better at second and third doubles, which BG won.

"I really have five incredible doubles teams," said BG coach Chris Van Grondelle. "Only three get to play (in invitationals). In practice they're always beating each other up.

"We're still coming on singles-wise. I was really happy with Jessie Garrity (at second singles). She won a couple of matches today and won some at our place."

-- Kathy Rudolph

Girls soccer

Jackie Drees scored 5 goals and Julie Fredian had 2 shutouts as Hersey (3-0-1) beat Niles North 3-0 and South Elgin 6-0 in the St. Viator tournament.

Drees scored all the goals against Niles North.

St. Viator (3-0-1) played a scoreless tie with Benet and beat Lake Zurich 1-0 on Taylor Skala's first-half goal. Mary-Kate Supplitt had 8 saves against Benet and four in splitting the shutout with Stephanie Shanahan against Lake Zurich.

Softball

Hoffman Estates went downstate for a doubleheader with Normal West Saturday.

The Hawks (0-4) lost the opener 4-2 and dropped the second game 13-3 in six innings.

Hoffman freshman Kelsey Pellus went 3-for-3 in Game 1 while teammates Natalie Miceli, Rachel Marinoff and losing pitcher Kaitlin Walsh (7 strikeouts) each had 1 hit.

In Game 2, Normal West put 10 runs on the board in the first inning.

Miceli was 3-for-3 while teammate Colleen Roberts was 2-for-2.