Alden-Hebron makes history

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ELGIN – An emotionally draining week for Alden-Hebron baseball coach Ken Winkelman and the Giants ended in uplifting fashion Saturday in the IHSA Class 1A Westminster Christian Regional.

Winkelman, whose close friend and former youth baseball coaching partner, Randy Blazier, died Wednesday after a battle with cancer, was smiling through the tears Saturday after the top-seeded Giants defeated second-seeded Westminster Christian, 3-1, for the school’s first regional baseball championship.

“We were kind of like brothers,” Winkelman said. “We were like the two amigos.”

Blazier’s son, Chase, a pitcher for Harvard’s baseball team, and Winkleman’s son, Mark, a pitcher for A-H, were teammates for several years on the Woodstock Lightining travel team coached by their fathers. Before taking the mound Saturday, Mark Winkelman crouched down in the infield for a personal moment of silence, Ken Winkelman said.

Mark Winkelman (9-1) then went out and shut down Westminster Christian, which had defeated A-H (21-4) the past two years in regional finals, on one hit with 11 strikeouts.

Leading the A-H offense were Zak Engelbrecht, who went 3-for-3 with an RBI, Shane Engelbrecht, who was 2-for-3, and Dilan Erath, who had an RBI.

Huntley 6, Sycamore 0: At Sycamore, Zach Liebman (9-1) struck out six and limited Sycamore to four hits in seven innings to earn a non-conference win for Huntley (28-6-1). The Red Raiders’ offense was led by Andrew Sopena, who had a double and an RBI, and Phil Pupillo, who went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

Lakes 7-10, Richmond-Burton 2-4: At Richmond, Harrison Daniels went 2-for-2 in the first game, and C.J. Daniels went 2-for-4 in the second game for the Rockets (11-23), who lost both ends of a non-conference doubleheader to the Eagles.

Marian Central 8, Grant 7 (8 inn.): At Woodstock, Eli McGuire drove in the winning run with a single to give the Hurricanes a non-conference win against the Bulldogs. Andy Stochl (1-0) earned the win by pitching the last two innings and allowing no hits. Stochl also had an RBI.

Antioch 8-3, Marengo 2-2: At Marengo, the Indians lost both ends of a non-conference doubleheader to the Sequoits. A.J. Lohff hit a home run for Marengo (4-24).

SOFTBALL

IHSA Class 2A North Boone Regional: At Poplar Grove, down a a run going into the top of the seventh, it didn’t look good for Harvard. But a single by Kristen Weidner and a double by Deana Cradic got the second-seeded Hornets going, and they went on to score five runs to defeat top-seeded North Boone, 6-2, to claim the regional championship.

Besides the seventh-inning heroics by the Hornets (8-15). Lindsay Melson (8-9) limited the Vikings to two hits and struck out 13 to earn the win. Also leading Harvard was Samantha Herley, who was 2-for-5 with a run scored, and Michaela Binz who was 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

Huntley 6-1, Wauconda 3-5: At Huntley, Huntley spilt a doubleheader with the Bulldogs and was led by Deana DeBosschere, who was 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs in the two games. Jenna Mychko drove in the three runs in the first game to help Huntley’s cause. Sam Clemons (21-10) got a win and a loss while striking out 10 in the two games.

Freeport Triangular: Marengo went 1-1, defeating Freeport, 9-1, and losing to LaSalle-Peru, 5-0. The Indians (26-6) were led by Hallisey Kunde, who went 5-for-6 in the two games, and Lauren Roudabush, who went 3-for-8. Earning the win against Freeport was Mattie McGuire, who struck out 11.

Lakes 12-4, Richmond-Burton 5-2: At Lake Villa, Miranda Burns had five hits on the day, including two doubles, but the Rockets were swept in a non-conference doubleheader.

Caitlin Richert also had five hits and knocked in three RBIs in the first game for R-B (7-21).

BOYS TRACK

Class 1A Plano Sectional: Harvard’s 4x200 and 4x800 teams advanced to the state finals with second-place finishes in each event.

The Hornets’ Miguel Flores (144 feet, 9 inches) and Alden-Hebron’s Zack Kleven (143-5) finished first and second in the discus to also advance along with Harvard’s Carlos Huicochea in the 3200, who had a second-place finish of 10:33 seconds.

• Tom Clegg, Mike Kolton and Andy Schmidt contributed to this report.