Providence Baseball Keeps on Rolling

The Providence baseball team captured the WJOL Invitational championship, edging Joliet Catholic Academy 4-3. The Celtics beat Lemont 7-2 and Plainfield Central 4-2 earlier in the tournament to earn the opportunity to play for the title.

Kevin DeFillippis, Nick Gould, Dan Potempa and Sam Travis all were named to the all-tournament team.

The Celtics improved to 8-0 this week with a pair of non-conference wins. They hammered Downers Grove North 13-3 on Wednesday and survived Naperville Central 9-7 on Thursday behind Colin McEnery's four hits and two RBIs.

DeFillippis and Zak Kutsulis led the Celtics with three hits apiece in the big win over the Trojans, while Colin McEnery improved to 2-0. Potempa and Travis both had two hits in the win over the Redhawks, while Kutsulis picked up the win and Dan Wetzel closed the door for the save.

The Celtics have a 7:30 p.m. first pitch scheduled against Benet on Saturday at Standard Bank Stadium in Crestwood for the Southside Conference Challenge. They'll return to Standard Bank Stadium a week later for a rare Sunday morning game on April 17 to face Marian Catholic in the Stevie's Challenge Tournament.

First Loss Doesn't Slow Warriors

The Lincoln-Way West baseball team didn't expect to go undefeated, but how it responded after its first loss, a 13-8 decision to Lockport on Tuesday, tells a lot about the caliber of this year's team.

The Warriors bounced back on Wednesday and Thursday and won a pair of always-impressive, one-run games. The Warriors beat Manteno 7-6 and came back on Thursday to clip Sandburg 2-1.

Lincoln-Way West's Four-Day Break

Lincoln-Way West's Kara Winans scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory against Joliet West on Monday. For more details on the match, please click here.

The Warriors had four straight days to prepare for the conference schedule, which begins Saturday against Bradley-Bourbonnais. The Warriors face Lincoln-Way East on Tuesday and Lockport on Thursday.

"This break has provided us with valuable time to prepare for our difficult and upcoming conference schedule," Lincoln-Way West coach Jeff Theiss said. "We've spent a majority of our time the past few days focusing on fitness and our technical ability, along with viewing film to improve our tactical concepts off the ball.

"The girls are focused and excited for their opportunity to build off of their last two victories."

Walshon's Perfect for Knights

Lincoln-Way Central's Nicole Walshon pitched a perfect game for the Knights during a 16-0 victory over Thornridge on Thursday. She struck out 11.

Walshon and the Knights were able to regroup from a tough, 10-9 loss to Lincoln-Way North on Tuesday.

"(Walshon) was very much on and had a completely different approach and mindset (from Tuesday)," Lincoln-Way Central coach Stephen Paulsen said. "We weren't going to let them get lackadaisical in this game."

Paulsen spoke to Walshon about the need to get ahead of hitters. She struggled at times on Tuesday but had no problems on Thursday, fanning 11 and not yielding any baserunners.

"The caliber (of the opponent) wasn't the same, but you can't give teams like that a reason to stick around," Paulsen said. "I kind of challenged her to get ahead early and stay ahead and, if they were going to hit her, they were going to have to hit her best stuff."

On Tuesday, the Knights made some mental mistakes that also resulted in some physical errors that hurt in the loss to the Phoenix.

"The kids were too tight and played a little scared," Paulsen said. "But they're young kids and that's the biggest thing with them right now. We can't have such a tentative approach and be lackadaisical or give a good team extra outs."

Lincoln-Way East Stymies Providence in Boys Volleyball

Lincoln-Way East (11-2) defeated Providence (6-3) on Tuesday, 25-13, 25-23 in boys volleyball action in New Lenox. For more on the match, please click here.