NT_051718

52 | May 17, 2018 | The Northbrook tower sports
northbrooktower.com
Northbrook’s Hardy
prepares for pro career
Alan P. Henry
Freelance Reporter
As Glenbrook North and
University of Illinois golf
star Nick Hardy prepares to
tee it up for his first start as
a professional in the Rust-
Oleum Championship on
June 4 at the Ivanhoe Club
in Mundelein, the game
plan is to stay within himself.
“I’m going to prepare for
it just like any other tournament,”
said the 22-year-old
Northbrook native. “I’m
going to keep all my variables
the same or as similar
as possible, and keep my
routine the same. It’s been
working for me so I am going
to keep doing that.”
Hardy, who is completing
his senior year at Illinois,
will officially turn pro
at the Web.com Tour event,
where he has received a
sponsor invitation, following
the NCAA Men’s Golf
Championship.
“I’ve had a great college
experience at the University
of Illinois and have
learned a lot from Coach
[Mike] Small,” said the
two time individual Big
Ten champion. “I look forward
to moving on to the
next phase of my golf career.
I know how valuable a
sponsor exemption is and I
am very appreciative to the
Rust-Oleum Championship
for giving me this opportunity.”
Hardy’s caddie in the
Rust-Oleum Championship
will be Eric Markus,
who was a junior champion
and a teammate of Hardy’s
on the GBN golf team.
Markus has been Hardy’s
caddie since 2013.
Tournament Director
Scott Cassin called Hardy
Nick Hardy will make his pro debut on June 4. 22nd
Century Media File Photo
one of “the finest young
players to come out of the
state of Illinois in decades”
and said he expected him
“to compete at high level
and use the tournament as
a springboard to future success.”
Of the course at Ivanhoe,
which Hardy has played,
he said: “It is a really good
driving golf course. If you
drive it well, you will set
yourself up for some birdie
chances.”
Hardy is literally a homegrown
talent, who had a
golf club in his hand almost
as soon as he could walk
and played in his first tournament
when he was nine.
“Anetsberger Golf
Course and Sportsman’s
were the two courses I
played at until I got to high
school,” he said. One of his
favorite holes at Sportsman’s
is the par-5 17th. “I
was just trying to get over
the water in two. Now, I am
just trying to hit the green
in two, and it is a tough
green to hit.”
Hardy’s resume is an impressive
one.
The 2014 GBN graduate
made the cut at the 2015
U.S. Open at Chambers
Bay after winning the Big
Ten Championship and being
named Big Ten Freshman
of the Year.
He tied for 52nd as a
sophomore with a 10-over
par 290 at the Open, beating
out the likes of Phil
Mickelson, Ernie Els and
Luke Donald, as well as
dozens of professionals, including
Tiger Woods, who
didn’t make the cut. Hardy
had a poor third round,
shooting a 77, but rebounded
with a 68 in the fourth
and final round, which was
better than eventual champion
Jordan Spieth’s score
in that round.
“It gave me a lot of confidence
and proved to me
that I can compete at the
highest level, and I’ve gotten
a lot better since then,”
said Hardy.
In 2016, he qualified for
the U.S. Open and played
in the Rust-Oleum Championship
on a sponsor’s
exemption. In 2017, Hardy
made the cut at the PGA
TOUR’s John Deere Classic
in the Quad Cities.
In top amateur events,
he made the Western Amateur’s
prestigious Sweet
Sixteen three times.
Full story at Northbrooktower.com
Softball
Smart baserunning leads
to Spartan win over Giants
David Jaffe
Freelance Reporter
A lot of things went well
for Glenbrook North on
Thursday, May 10 at Highland
Park.
But what got the Spartans
(11-12, 5-5) going
early was their aggressiveness
on the bases.
GBN stole six bases and
advanced several more
runners on passed balls,
putting them in scoring
position early.
Then the bats came alive
with a seven-run second
inning as they dominated
en route to a 13-0 five inning
win.
Nicole Pyke put GBN
on the board, scoring on
a passed ball in the top of
the first after she had stolen
second earlier.
“It was pretty important
to run the bases the way
we did today,” Pyke (3 for
4) said. “They’re a pretty
good team so we knew we
had to come out strong. I
think running the bases aggressively
helped set the
tone.”
“We always try to be
aggressive on the bases,”
GBN coach Bridget Matsunaga
said. “We have a
lot of quick players at the
top of our lineup so we
try to use that to our advantage.
And we wanted
to get off to a good start.
One of our last games we
gave up seven runs early
to Vernon Hills so we
know it can come back to
bite you if you don’t get
early runs.”
Then GBN’s offense
erupted in the second inning.
The Spartans scored
on another passed ball,
making it 2-0. Three
straight RBI singles from
Lauren Cole, Nicole Amen
and Pyke followed, increasing
the advantage
to 5-0. Victoria Nagle
reached on an error that
scored two more runs
and Julia Navarro’s RBI
groundout made it 8-0.
“We got a lot of girls
opportunities to have atbats,”
Matsunaga said.
“We had solid line drives
and did a good job waiting
on certain pitches. Highland
Park’s pitcher has a
good changeup so we did
a good job of fouling those
pitches off and working
the count.”
The Spartans scored
three more in the third on
a two-run single by Nagle
and a sacrifice fly by
Lauren Mendelson. GBN
completed its scoring in
the fourth when two runs
scored on an error that allowed
Hannah Nyren to
reach first.
On the mound Mendelson
and Emily Szczepkowicz
combined for
a shutout. While GBN
knows what they’re getting
from Mendelson, its
regular starter, Sczepkowicz
pitched three innings
giving up two hits and
walking three. She faced
tough situations with the
Giants loading the bases in
the third and getting runners
to second and third in
the fifth but she ultimately
came out of both jams unscathed.
“This was the first game
Emily’s pitched in this
year,” Pyke said. “I was
glad to see her get the
opportunity to pitch. She
may have been a little
nervous but I think she
was mostly excited to get
the chance to be out there
and we were excited for
her. Our defense was really
good today and were
able to make the routine
plays so I think that really
helped as well.”
“Emily’s only a sophomore,”
Matsunaga said.
“To come in after Lauren
can be intimidating. But
she came in with the right
attitude and said I got this.
She did well and it was a
courageous performance.
The defense behind her
did a good job helping her
out, too.”
Highland Park had runners
on in every inning. In
addition to having good
chances in the third and
fifth, the Giants got a runner
to third in the first inning.
They were just unable
to bring them in.
“We had some good hits
but hit a lot of balls right to
them,” Highland Park assistant
coach and assistant
athletic director Colleen
Boilini said. “The last time
we played them we scored
three runs right away. But
I think overall we hit the
ball better today. We just
couldn’t advance the runners.”
GBN’s big inning put
things away and it started
with how they ran the bases.
“We got pretty flustered
during that second inning,”
Boilini said. “When they
scored seven runs in that
inning, you could kind of
tell that we got flustered.
Our pitcher Lydia (Taylor)
has thrown the ball well all
year. But they hit the ball
well and were running every
chance they had.”