LZ Girls Softball Team Grabs Conference Title

Kudos to the Lake Zurich girls softball team, who are the NSC conference champs after their thrilling 7-6 win over Antioch on Thursday. Christina Sandstedt’s walk-off, drop-dead bunt single rolled no more than 10 feet down the third-base line, scoring Katie Brown with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning for the victory. This was the third consecutive conference championship matchup between these perennial foes. The Bears win was at least partial payback for losing to Antioch the previous two years. As in those last two contests, the game went into extra innings. Last year, the Sequoits prevailed 2-1 in another nine-inning affair, and in 2009 they won 2-0 in a 15-inning marathon.

Lake Zurich (18-7) got off to a solid start when Megan Mattera clubbed a long three-run homer in the first inning, her seventh of the season. But Antioch (23-8) came roaring back when they scored four runs in the top of the fourth to take a 4-3 lead. Sophomore Amber Larson keyed the rally with a two-run double, and freshman Sage Keyes chipped in with a run-scoring single. Antioch’s Sam Kozenski then lined an RBI double in the sixth, as the Sequoits took a 5-4 advantage.

The see-saw lead exchange continued, as sophomore Katie Keefe drove in Keyes in the top of the ninth with a two-out single off Matera, and the Sequoits went up 6-5. Bears freshman Carlee Parsons (3-for-5, double) started the winning rally with her third straight hit. After Maria Schroeder (2-for-four, double, triple) popped out, Mattera sliced a single between third and short, which was followed by Alli McGinnis’s game-tying single to center. With Katie Brown, the Bears’ fastest player, running for Mattera at third, the stage was set for Sandstedt’s heroics.

“We had a lot of people on our team step up throughout the game,” said Sandstedt. “This was definitely a team effort.”

The Lake Zurich Bears varsity baseball team, winners of eight of their last nine regular-season games,  host Barrington today at 4:30 in their quarterfinals matchup. The Bears finished the season 15-16, including a seven-game winning streak that was snapped on Friday when they lost 5-3 in a home game to McHenry. The Bears concluded their season on Saturday morning when they edged host Evanston 3-2. Lake Zurich also shut out Vernon Hills 7-0 on Thursday.

In Saturday’s regular-season wrap-up against Evanston, Parker Asmann, Mark Dorfman, Sean Eder and Mitch Tuthill each had a pair of hits, and Asmann and Dorfman each had two doubles. Pitcher Mike Schnur got the win, striking out three and yielding just two hits while lasting six innings, as the Bears banged out a total of eight hits. In Friday’s 5-3 loss to McHenry, Sean Eder continued his torrid hitting by going 3-for-3, and the Bears outhit the Warriors, 12-8. Lake Zurich also committed four errors to McHenry’s two, as Mike Irgang suffered a tough loss.

In their contest against Vernon Hills on Thursday, the Bears struck first in the second. Mark Dorfman (2-for-4) doubled to left and then scored when Sean Eder (3-for 3, 3 RBI) singled him in. Mike Lutz then singled in Eder for the second run. Lutz, who went 2-for-3, also pitched a complete game, a three-hit shutout, in one of his most commanding wins of the season. The Bears tacked on two more runs in the third and one in the fourth, opening up a 5-0 lead against the Cougars. Eder then slammed a two-run homer in the fifth after Anthony Drago led off the inning with a double. Parker Asmann (2-for-4) also doubled for the Bears, who knocked out 15 hits.

On Wednesday, the Bears literally slaughtered North Chicago, 20-0, in a game that was halted after five innings because of the mercy rule. Danny Minogue slammed a pair of doubles, Tim Sayre and Parker Asmann each tripled and Steve Kuhn homered to pace the blowout. Jacob LaRue, Jeremy Reusch, Brian Wiest, Connor Loftus and Mike Irgang also reached on two-baggers. Eddie Szarkowicz earned the victory for Lake Zurich.

On Tuesday, the Bears defeated host Zion-Benton, 5-2 in the second game of their conference home-away contests after an 8-3 win over the Zee-Bees on Monday.

Today’s quarterfinals game against Barrington will pit the 16^th-seeded Bears against the 18^th-seeded Broncos. It bears mentioning that when the seeding slots were decided, Lake Zurich was 4-12; since then, they’ve gone 11-4.

“We deserved to be down there when they voted,” said Bears coach Gary Simon.

The winner of this regional play-in contest will take on Mundelein, the top-seeded team in the sectional. The Mustangs swept the Bears in their conference home-away matchup this season.

Several Lake Zurich High School tennis players played well in last week’s NSC tournament, as Austin Reitsch and Dietrich Ihm placed fifth at No. 1 doubles in a meet at Warren. The pair opened with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over a North Chicago duo before succumbing to Libertyville, 6-3, 6-2. They then rallied to win three straight consolation matches, including a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Vernon Hills in the fifth-place match. Rob Madsen and Steve Pratscher finished fourth in No. 3 doubles, as Lake Zurich sixth overall with 12 points.

The Bears volleyball team rallied to a 23-25, 25-17, 26-24 win on May 13^th. Pacing Lake Zurich was Chris Carmody (30-for-35, 16 kills), Kyle Miller (15-for-17, nine kills), Tom Doherty (14-for-17, five kills), Chris Olsen (13-for-13, 3 kills), and Coulton Every (6-for-8, three kills). Jeremy Anderson was a stellar 84-for-85 in setting, with 31 assists. Mike Savio was the team’s passing leader (16-for-17) while going 24-for-25 in serve-receive. Doherty and Carmody were also deadly in serve-receive, going 16-for-17 and 10-for-10 respectively. Lake Zurich’s serving was very consistent, led by Doherty (16-for-18), Carmody (12-for-13, ace) and Miller (10-for-10),  as well as  Olson (8-for-8), Savio (8-for-9, ace) and Anderson (5-for-5).