Southtown Star from Tinley Park, Illinois • 13

SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 1986 B-3 iw-, i I a jf I 1 1 1 -i Ft I' Lb. Matt Fisher, Providence Catholic catcher, dejectedly and disgustedly leaves the field Friday afternoon as Oak Park-River Forest players whoop it np in the background moments after the north suburbanites had scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to eliminate the New Lenox squad, 10-9. (Star photo by Carol Dorsett) A disappointed Tim Trunk (16) leaves the pitching mound Thursday morning in favor of Ken Massey (8) in the fifth inning of Class AA state quarterfinals game in Springfield. Trunk was charged with the 5-4 pitching loss against Barrington that ended a 34-4 Bengal season. (Star photo by Carol Dorsett) Bounced from state quarterfinals fail intimidate Barrington engab Jackson scored on Wilson's wild pitch to Winkle, making it 5-4.

Wilson then walked Winkle and plunked Schmidt in the shoulder with a pitch. Smith then signalled for his stopper, Noreen, who took two pitches to retire Long and earn the save. "I don't know what it was, I just couldn't find the plate today," said Wilson, who walked eight after passing only 19 in 78-13 previous innings. Oak Forest got only five hits. "I don't think either team hit the ball well today, although we did get the game started with some balls well hit," Smith said.

LEADOFF batter Mark Levin and number five batter Peter Faith both tripled off Bengal starter Tim Trunk during a three-run first inning. Barrington never lost its edge, although the Bengals tried to turn the momentum in their favor several times. 1 "The general flow of the game did not seem to come to them like it probably has in the past," said coach Kirby Smith, after the Broncos held on to win, 5-4. "Oak Forest would get something started, then a popup or ground ball would end it" "We didn't know if we could play with them," said catcher Jerry Willis, who drove in Barrington's fourth and fifth runs with a third inning double and a fifth inning single off Trunk. "But after the first inning I thought we were just as good as they were." The Bengals went for the early By JOE SHROBA SPRINGFIELD- The final out of Oak Forest's baseball season pretty much typified what led to the Bengals' demise in the 1986 IHSA state baseball finals.

Barrington left fielder Craig Hal- borg made a diving catch of Steve Long's pop fly to prevent Tim Jackson from scoring the tying run with two outs in the seventh. The Broncos were a step, a throw, a hit, a break ahead of the Bengals all the way to the end. Thursday's 9:30 a.m. quarterfinal game at Lanphier park belonged to Barrington. If there was any pressure in playing the defending champions, it became a non-factor as soon as the Broncos got to bat.

jump, loading the bases with one out in the top of the first. But Halborg gunned down Todd Venezio on his attempt to score on Paul Winkle's short fly ball past third base. "WHEN YOU'VE got bases loaded and one out you're not always going to score, but if you do it puts the other team down," said Oak Forest coach Andy Scianna. "I made a judgment, and I said go. You live with it, and you die with it.

"If we could have scored a couple of runs it might have changed things, but maybe it gave them a boost. Once you're on the board it seems there's more to come. Sometimes getting the first run is the hardest part." Barrington, which the game with a state-record 64 home runs, rocked Trunk for nine hits four of them extra bases. Levin started it off with a triple in the left field alley and scored on Mike Bradley's grounder to second which Long threw away. Keith Noreen followed with a single to score Bradley, and Faith's opposite field triple to right on an 0-2 pitch made it 3-0.

OAK FOREST came back with two in the third, when Venezio opened with a double and advanced to third on a passed ball, and Jackson followed with a walk. Jackson then stole second and Venezio scored on a throwing error by Willis. Tim Buhe's ground ball out scored Jackson to make it 3-2, and the Bengals went on to load the bases with two outs when Long came to bat; Long tapped a roller to Noreen at third, who threw the ball away to allow pinch runner Andy Lake to catcher Matt Fisher would make the play. An instant before the ball dropped, Fisher stepped back and looked toward Kennedy, who was standing two feet away. "I told some of the coaches and the guys sitting behind me that when the kid missed the pop fly I thought it was an automatic hit," Kaiser said.

"Anytime something like that happens, it backfires on you. When you've got a chance to catch the ball, you've got to catch it. It took two pitches instead of one for it to happen." THE OTHER pitch was a wild pitch by Kennedy, which advanced runners to second and third. Celtic (Please turn to Page B-4) Celtics pay price of lona Huslde wait if. score along with Harry Schmidt.

As Long made his way to second base, the umpire ruled the ball was hit foul because it grazed off Long's foot. That negated a 4-3 Bengal lead and reverted the score back to 3-2. Long struck out on the next pitch. Barrington pushed its margin to 4-2 in the bottom of the inning on Wilson's one-out triple to right field and Willis' one out single that was just beyond the reach of Buhe. THE BENGALS cut it to 4-3 in the fifth, when Winkle walked with two outs and Schmidt belted a double off the fence in left-center.

But Willis came through again in the bottom of the inning, hitting a double to the same spot as Schmidt's, scoring Faith from first base. "The first hit was a curve, down and in," Willis said afterward. "The second one was a fast ball on the first pitch, right where I liked it" "I though Timmy made a couple of mistakes on 0-2 counts," Scianna said. "He could have been a little more picky in situations where he was ahead. The last two runs that scored shouldn't have scored, because of pitch selection." Bengal ace Ken Massey began working in the bullpen as early as the first inning.

Scianna waited until the fifth to bring in Massey, after Trunk gave up the double to Willis on his 97th pitch. "THERE'S NO hindsight there," Scianna said. "I could have pitched Massey, too. I thought we had a nice little rotation set up, and if anyone was in trouble I could go to either one." Wilson lasted until the seventh, when Jackson led off with a walk and went to second on a passed ball. Buhe popped up to short for the first out and Scott Pickands grounded out 1 to first, sending Jackson to third.

T-Birds excuted two double plays behind her and Kornacki had nine assists at third. Rightfielder Monica Townes had two 9-3 putouts in the 10th inning to rob Moline batters of singles. Johansen, the T-Bird workhorse, broke a state tournament record by pitching 27 innings over the three days of play. The old record of 27 innings was set by Rich Central's Glenda Nelson in 1983. Just as in the second game, the teams had to wait out a rain delay.

The third place game was called Friday after two innings, with Thornwood leading 2-1, and was resumed Saturday. On Friday, there was a three-hour delay before the game could be completed. MOLINE (22-3) jumped to a 1-0 Wait 'til next year! OAK FOREST (4) AB VenMlo rt 2 1 1 Jackion 3b 2 2 1 Buhe ss 4 0 1 Plcknddh 2 0 0 Laka pr 0 0 0 Winkle 1b 2 1 1 Crockett pr 0 0 0 Schmidt II 3 0 1 Long 2b 4 0 0 Regnier cf 2 0 Rana 3 0 0 Totale 25 4 I BARRINOTON (5) AB Levin sa 4 1 1 Bradley ct 3 1 0 Norean 3b. 2 0 1 Wilson 3 2 2 Faith 1b 3 1 1 Willis 3 0 2 Sparesus 3b 0 0 0 Menalk rt 10 0 Soboclenskl ph 10 0 Wambach dh 3 0 2 Bors pr 0 0 0 Halborg It 0 0 0 Lageachulte 2b 3 0 0 Totals 26 OAK FOREST ..002 010 ..301 101 14 1 1 Trunk, Massey (6th) and Rana Wilson. Noreen (7th) and Willis.

Wilson (7th) (OF) Long (1st); (B) Willis (3rd) PB- (B) Willis (3) Winning pitcher- Wilson (13-0) Losing pitcher Trunk (11-1) Save Noreen 2B- (OF) Schmidt (5th); (B) Willis (5th) 3B- (B) Levin (1st), Faith (1st), Wilson (3rd) lead in the top of the first inning when leadoff hitter singled to left, was sacrificed to second by Connie Fiems and scored on a left-field double by Heidi Hutchison. Thornwood (32-7) responded with two runs of its own in the bottom of the first frame. Julie Hindes opened with a two-strike, bunt single and moved to second on a sacrifice by Lori Mihajlovich. The T-Birds bounced into a 2-1 advantage when Kornacki clouted a homerun to right-center field. The round-tripper by Kornacki was her third safety of the tournament and enhanced her chances of making the all-tournament squad.

Johansen kept Moline in check in the second innings, notching her 18th and 19th strikeouts of the tournament. Thorn wood girls third at state By JOE SHROBA SPRINGFIELD Jack Kaiser said the Oak Park-River Forest team he coaches was ready "363 days ago" for Friday's state quarterfinal baseball game against Providence But the teams had to wait an extra day, after immense rain washed out two of Thursday's scheduled IHSA Class AA games. When the matchup finally did come off at Lanphier park, it was well worth the wait for Kaiser and his Huskies. They advanced, for the third straight year, to the semifinal round. Oak Park overcame early Celtic leads of 6-1 and 7-3, winning 10-9 and spoiling Providence's bid to win unprecedented titles in both Class A and AA.

THE HUSKIES survived Providence ace John DeJarld, scoring eight earned runs off him, one less than DeJarld's previous earned run total for the season. They even survived the old hidden ball trick which Providence made famous in a regional game last year. Most of all, the Huskies persisted the home plate umpire Don McVeain of Peoria while the Celtics didn't. McVeain called balls on 145 of the pitches thrown in Friday's game, as the teams combined for 19 walks, two short of the state tournament record. What made it peculiar was neither Oak Park's Ben Shelton nor Providence's tandem of DeJarld and Bob Kennedy had control problems.

"He was fair, and he made the calls the same for everybody," said Celtics' coach Jaime Garcia. "But his strike zone was very tight He does not have a very good perception of balls and strikes. But he was fair to both teams." IT CREATED one of the more bizarre games of the 1986 season, let alone the state finals. Oak Park scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh, as David Thies lined a Kennedy fastball into the gap in left centerfield, scoring Corey Downs from third base. Kaiser expected Thies to come through with the hit, all because of what happened moments earlier.

Thies fouled off a 1-2 pitch near the Oak Park dugout Three Celtics converged on and it appeared Win or lose, Scianna the same "Last year I was on the other If it's possible to be stoic and cheerful at the same time, that's what Andy Scianna was after Oak Forest was beaten out of a second straight i state title by Barrington Thursday morning. "Hey, I'm the same win or lose, you know that," Scianna has been known to say. BUT THIS year he was on the other side. Now, at least, Scianna won't have to draw comparisons to this year's team and the one which was invincible last year. "We won it all last year, but I don't feel bad," Scianna said moments after the Bengals were eliminated, 5-4, by Barrington.

"The only hurt would have been if this group of kids didn't make it down here. If we had gotten beat in regionals or sectionals, I think it might have been one of those 'I told you so' type of things. 1 "Let's be honest. Last year I felt it was between two teams Oak I Forest and Oak Park. Not to degrade anybody else, but we felt after winning -that game it was like 'okay, just give us the thing right "This year I felt the clubs were tougher.

You've got a little better group lof teams this year Providence, Oak Park, Barrington, Oak Forest." THURSDAY'S loss signalled the end of an era at Oak Forest. The graduation of 12 seniors removes any remains from the '85 squad. It's ironic that, like most defending champions which don't repeat, the Bengals will undergo a major overhaul next season. Tim Buhe and Tim Jackson are signed up and bound for Northwestern in the fall. Paul Winkle is headed for North Central college, where hell rejoin former teammates Mike Madej, Mike Stotts and Ron Selby.

Scott Pickands appears headed for Lewis university. Ken Massey is keeping his options open St. Xavier or Illinois," he said.) "I'm gonna miss them all," Scianna said. "Tim Buhe. He's underrated.

How about that? He's great and he's underrated. By far he's the best athlete I ever coached. Keep an eye on that guy, he's gonna be a pro. "We'll be a different team next year. "Trunk's coming back, and Venezio is going to be one heckuva pitcher.

We've also got a couple other kids from the sophomore team who throw hard. There are some guys, though, who are irreplacable." Barrington entered Thursday's game with 64 home runs, a state record. They then set a tournament record with three triples off Oak Forest starter Tim Trunk. The three first-inning runs off Trunk set the tone for the Broncos' 5-4 win. "ALL WE WANTED here was try to do the things we've done well in the past," said Barrington coach Kirby Smith.

"We felt fortunate that we were winning when the game ended. "Oak Forest has an outstanding program. The players and coach handle themselves with a tremendous amount of class. They've proved in the past that they've got an outstanding program and they are to be commended for the manner in which they carry themselves." RAINOUTS of two games Thursday and two more on Friday created a messy situation for all concerned with the Class AA baseball finals. The semifinal games were to be played yesterday morning, with the finals scheduled for p.m.

One alternative was to move the site in case of rainf With three Chicago-area teams in contention through the semifinals, moving the finals north was considered. By KEVIN KELLY PEKIN Thornwood's girls had to work overtime yesterday for the second day in a row, but it was well worth the effort as they defeated Mo- I todfaii I line, 3-2 in 10 innings to capture third place in the state softball touman-ment. Janice Barker, the T-Bird first baseman, broke a 0-9 drought in three games here with a looping, line drive single in the bottom of the 10th to drive in Joyce Kornacki with the winning run. The ball just eluded the glove of Moline leftfielder Kim DeBacker who was diving for the ball. Kornacki, who was one of the few Thornwood players to hit consistently in the final round, started the winning rally with a single to left after two were out.

A line drive single by catcher Patty Barker, her third of the game, moved Kornacki into scoring position. JUST AS IN the semifinal contest Friday, a heartbreaking, 4-3 loss to Belleville, the T-Birds were one out away from victory when the tying run was scored. Moline's Connie Fiems hit a line single to left to score pinchhitter Jenny Coykendall, who had opened the inning with a single. Thornwood pitching ace Julie Jo-hansen scattered nine hits to pick up the win and she was backed up by some sparkling defensive plays. The State softball tournament At Pekin Thursday Morton 3, Bartonville-Limestone 1 Moline 4, New Trier 3 Thornwood 3, Taft 0 Belleville West 5, St.

Francis academy 0 Friday quarterfinals Morton Moline 0 Belleville West 4, Thornwood 3 (11 inn.) yesterday's final Morton vs. Belleville West Yesterday's consolation Thornwood 3, Moline 2 (10 inn.) i.