Vander Velde Sparks Wildkits To Regional Win

After watching his younger and less experienced teammates take fastball after fastball the first time through the Evanston batting order Thursday, Owen Vander Velde had seen enough.

The senior outfielder leaned on fastballs from Von Steuben pitcher Axel Rivera twice for run-scoring singles, enough to deliver a 7-4 victory for Evanston in the semifinals of the Class 4A Maine South Regional tournament in Park Ridge.

Vander Velde cracked RBI singles in the fourth and fifth innings as the Wildkits overcame a 1-0 deficit and advanced to the title game. Now 17-17 on the season, No. 7 seed Evanston will meet the No. 3 seed host team at 11 a.m. to decide the regional crown. Winner of that game moves on to the Loyola Academy sectional semis on Wednesday, June 4th.

Among Evanston’s starters in the win-or-go-home scenario that is the Illinois High School Association playoff season, only Vander Velde and classmate Avan Teuer had previous postseason experience.

And that fact was illustrated when the Kits didn’t take the bat off their shoulders much of the time as Rivera pitched three hitless innings to start the game.

After that, Vander Velde (2-for-2 with two runs scored) and twin brother Cole (2-for-3, two runs scored) stepped up and showed the youngsters how you win playoff games.

“That was the biggest jump for me when I came to the varsity, learning how to hit fastball pitchers,” Vander Velde said after taking over the team lead for the season in RBI. “We have a lot of young guys on this team (five sophomores) and it’s taken time for them to develop that. You have to be ready to jump on the fastball when you’re at this level.

“It’s been an up and down season for us, but I’ve seen it from them when they’ve had success (at the plate). When they’re on the fastball, that’s when they’re successful. But at the start of this game they were kinda stuck in between (swinging and not swinging).”

Vander Velde’s experience also helped him recognize a fastball count against a fastball pitcher like Rivera, who struck out three in the first three innings before the Kits got to him. Cole Vander Velde hammered a triple over the right fielder’s head to start the uprising in the ETHS fourth. Then Owen fell behind 1-2 in the count against Rivera, before lining a single to center that pulled the Kits even at 1-1.

Ethan Carpenter followed with a bunt single, with the daring Vander Velde dashing to third on the play, and a wild pitch and a throwing error by Von Steuben catcher Matteo Baunelos climaxed a three-run rally for the winners.

In the Evanston fifth, the Wildkits broke the game open after a one-out walk to Dion Lane Jr., a throwing error and Cole Vander Velde’s single loaded the bases for the guy they call “Big O.” Owen Vander Velde belted a 3-2 fastball to right center for two runs, and Carpenter’s infield out and another Panther error pushed Evanston’s advantage to 7-1.

“I just looked to attack his fastball all the way in those situations,” said Owen Vander Velde. “I knew his curve ball wouldn’t beat me, because if I saw it well enough out of his hand, I knew it wasn’t fast enough to beat me. I just thought try to hit it hard somewhere.

“It’s an amazing feeling! And this is the best time to do it, in the playoffs. We have a lot of young guys who have taken time to develop --- and now we’re here.”

Junior Johnny Kellams allowed just one earned run in his postseason debut on the mound and picked up the win with relief help from Zach Bachochin and Elliot Paul. Kellams was veteran head coach Frank Consiglio’s choice to start Game 1 of the regional, a bit of a surprise considering that Paul, a sophomore, was the only ETHS player selected to the all-Central Suburban League South division team this spring.

Paul is expected to get the starting nod against Maine South after retiring both batters he faced Thursday to end the game.

Kellams twice pitched out of bases-loaded jams in a display of moxie that already has Consiglio excited about the prospect of having his top two pitchers back again next spring.

“We knew they had a pitcher with a good arm and we just wanted to stay in it and win in the later innings,” Consiglio said. “We like the matchup of Elliot against Maine South a little better, but we felt Johnny could keep us in the game until we found a way to win it. And we played elite defense behind him in the infield today. We made play after play behind him and that’s how you pick a pitcher up.

“My thought (regarding Kellams’ start) is that Johnny isn’t that far off of Elliot (talent-wise) and would be good enough to get us some big outs. The key was just if we’d defend behind him. I am super impressed that Johnny was able to compete like that in his first ever playoff start. Both of their runs came as the result of walks. Johnny’s been good for us all year, and I had faith in him executing the pitches he needed to make. To put that type of game together with so much on the line, I think that was his best game of the year.”

Kellams didn’t exactly follow the typical pattern you need to thrive in the postseason, allowing the leadoff hitter to reach base in four straight innings after a 1-2-3 first inning effort. He issued a free pass to cleanup hitter Kayin Timble in the second, and Timble came around to score on a fielder’s choice, a wild pitch and an RBI single by designated hitter Luke Johnston.

Two hits and a walk allowed Von Stueben (19-14-3) to fill the bases with one out. Kellams escaped that difficulty by retiring Isaiah Davalos on a foul popup and striking out pinch-hitter Gianni Nino on five pitches to keep the deficit at just 1-0.

Kellams had to work out of trouble again in the fifth after center fielder Owen Vander Velde dropped a fly ball to put runners at second and third with one out. An infield hit and a single by Christian Kobayashi made the Kits pay for that mistake before Kellams was able to retire the side.

The Panthers did push across two runs in the seventh against Bachochin, but couldn’t do any more damage in 2025 after Paul came on to take his turn on the mound.

“Over the first three innings we weren’t committing to those outside pitches,” Consiglio added. “We had to sit on that chalk (batter’s box) and sit on his heater. From the third inning on, we did a good job of that. It just took us one time through the batting order and we had to commit to challenging those pitches.”