HH_051817

homerhorizon.com sports
the Homer Horizon | May 18, 2017 | 47
fastbreak
Badminton
Porters place 15th at state finals
1st and 3
Erin Redmond/
22nd Century Media
Lockport baseball
spoils perfect
season for Chicago
Christian
1. Snapping a streak
The LTHS baseball
team beat Chicago
Christian 2-1
Thursday, May 11,
at home in the
second game of a
doubleheader. The
loss was the first for
the Knights, who
were 32-0 going
into the game. The
Porters also beat
Stagg 2-0 in Game 1
of the doubleheader.
2. The winning hit
Lockport’s Jake
Suchor hit an RBI
single to bring home
the second and
winning run versus
the Knights.
3. Mound dominance
LTHS junior Matt
Medina got the start
against Chicago
Christian, earning
the win after striking
out eight Knights
and allowing one hit
over four innings.
Randy Whalen
Freelance Reporter
Playing in the second
round of the consolation
bracket at the state tournament
last week, the two
Lockport Township badminton
doubles teams found
themselves playing a familiar
opponent.
Each other.
In an odd bracket
matchup, that is exactly
what happened as the Porters
two state-qualifying
teams met each other Friday,
May 12, at Eastern
Illinois University in
Charleston.
Lockport’s seniors Mary
O’Brien and Alexis Duda
lived up to their top doubles
team billing with a 21-
11, 21-8 win over junior
Morghann Furr and senor
Jessica Sterna. But no one
was really happy with the
matchup.
“I don’t understand how
that happened,” Lockport
coach Stacy Sparlin said of
her doubles teams meeting
in the third match for each.
“You would have thought
that they’d be further away
from each other [in the
brackets]. But Alexis and
Mary played that spot most
of the year, and they showed
it.”
Even though the matchup
guaranteed the Porters
would get half a point, they
wished both teams would
have had that opportunity
to pick up a half point for a
consolation round win.
“It was rough to do,”
O’Brien said. “We saw the
matchup, and we were like,
‘Oh great.’ Now we have
a team that will not be getting
any points. Alexis
and I wanted it more, but
still, it was bad luck for
the team.”
Although they played
each other countless times
in practice, it was still weird
to play on the big stage of
state.
“I wasn’t nervous until
we played our own team,”
Duda said of facing Furr
and Strerna. “That was the
most nervous I got for all
the matches. But Mary and
I play well together.”
Duda went to state last
season also as a member of
the Porters second doubles
team but lost a pair of threeset
matches, so winning two
matches this season was
nice.
“We just had to keep positive
and look what’s in front
of you,” Duda said of this
season’s success. “I’ll miss
all the good times and the
laughs.”
The Porters finished in
a tie for 15th with four total
points. That was a half
point behind 14th place
Lincoln-Way West, which
Lockport beat out at the
sectional. Last season, the
Porters placed ninth (7
points) and two years ago,
they were tied for seventh
(8 points). Stevenson (18.5
points) was this season’s
state champion, while twotime
defending champion
Neuqua Valley (17 points)
placed second.
O’Brien and Duda had
opened the tourney with a
21-10, 21-12 win over Katie
Cooper and Catherine
Meredith from Prospect.
But that was followed by
a 21-11, 21-12 secondround
loss to eventual
fourth-place finishers Megan
Gamber and Katie Jarosz
from Buffalo Grove.
After the victory over Furr
and Sterna, they fell 21-15,
21-10 to Aishwarya Katiki
and Avni Limdi from
Neuqua Valley.
Furr and Sterna, who
were making their first
trip to state, opened with a
21-10, 21-15 loss to Bhavana
Bheem and Divya
Gudur from Conant. But
they bounced back for a
21-10, 21-18 consolation
round win over Tina Guo
and Helen Hu of Hinsdale
Central before dropping
the match to O’Brien
and Duda.
The most successful Porter
player at state was senior
Jenna Franzen, who went
3-2 in singles and fell just
short of making it to Day 2
on Saturday, May 13. In her
first state appearance last
year, she went 1-2 at state.
She was much more relaxed
this season.
“I was not one of the
first matches out, and that
definitely helped,” Franzen
said of this season at
state. “I was ready this
season.”
Franzen had a 21-11,
21-14 victory over Megan
Spencer from St. Charles
East in the opening round.
That was followed by a
tough 21-16, 21-11 loss
to Maggie Tierney from
Downers Grove North, who
had knocked Franzen out
of the tournament the year
before. But she bounced
back with a 21-16, 21-13
win over Allie Schweigert
from Bradley-Bourbonnais,
and then reached
back to rally for a nice
19-21, 21-15, 21-17 victory
over Hanna Konrath of
Willowbrook.
But in the fourth-round
consolation match, the final
one of the opening day, she
lost to a familiar foe. That
was Lincoln-Way West senior
Cassie Ruettiger, who
won 21-7, 21-6 in a rematch
of the sectional title paring.
Still, it was a good tournament
for Franzen.
“I’m just glad I improved
from last year,” she said. “I
had played [Tierney] twice
during the season and beat
her once. But by losing to
her, I played more matches
[Tierney lost her next two
matches in straight sets].
Then the match against
[Konrath] was really good.
I just dug deep and wanted
it more. I wanted that win,
and I also wanted to make
it to Day 2 but came up one
win shy. Cassie Ruettiger
[who finished in the Top 12]
is very good. Still, it was a
good way to end.”
For Sparlin, it is just the
beginning of her badminton
coaching career. Her
first season was successful,
as the Porters captured
the Blue Division title in
the SouthWest Suburban
Conference and then won
their fifth straight sectional
championship.
“I came down last year to
see what it was all about,”
Sparlin said of the badminton
state tournament. “They
have a walk in advance of
the competition where all
the players from each team
go out and walk around together
while carrying the
school banner. It’s a really
neat experience.
“I was happy for Jenna.
She had been here last year
and was really nervous. But
this year, she was calm and
played well.”
One other Porter also
made a return trip to state.
That was assistant coach
Haley Egelhof, who teamed
with Jessica Miller last May
to capture fifth in the state
in doubles and become
Lockport’s first medalists in
10 years.
“It was different,” Egelhof
said of being there as a
coach. “But it was also good
to be on the other side of the
spectrum.”
LISTEN UP
“All day, I haven’t been hitting, and then just getting
that clutch hit, it was amazing. I barrelled it up so
good, and that’s what I’ve been waiting for all day.”
Nick Strysik — Lockport baseball player, on getting the winning hit
against Chicago Christian following a previously tough evening
at the plate
Tune In
Baseball
Tourney time — 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 18, vs.
Montini at Wheaton College
• The Porters travel to Wheaton to take part in
pool play at the Steven M. Bajenski Memorial
Baseball Tournament.
Index
41 - This Week In
40 - Athlete of the Week
FASTBREAK is compiled by Editor Thomas Czaja, tom@
homerhorizon.com.