Super Sunday

Mizuno Super 60 (Softball) Lakis Shootout (Boy's Basketball)
Sunday June 13th
East Peoria/Monmouth

No alarm was set on Sunday morning, staying in downtown Peoria at the Pere Marquette. I don't know how many hours I spent sifting through notes, talking with coaches, and fellow media members and studying the softball state finals over the past several days, but it took about every waking moment this week.

I initially arose around 8:00 a.m. and felt like I had been smacked head-on by a train. I was tired. I layed in bed and fell back asleep, but it was that uncomfortable hotel sleep for the next couple hours. Around 9:30, I decided to just get up and surf the web for a bit, and have a couple cups of coffee.

The Mizuno Super 60 was to begin with the first game at 10:30 back at Eastside Centre, but I was just going to pop in and catch what I could today. I checked out of the hotel shortly after 11:00, and headed back across the river.

The Blue vs. White game had just ended, and the Red/Gray game was set to begin at noon. I walked around to the first base side and ran into Sommer Foster's dad in the bleachers near the Red dugout. Foster was the United Red Storm catcher, and was the starting catcher for team Red in the Super 60. We had talked about the Moline/Elk Grove game getting washed out completely, and I mentioned I was surprised only one tarp was used, not covering two diamonds.

Foster's high school teammate and Red Storm ace Katie Bertelsen and her mom, Traci, came a few minutes later. I mentioned that someone over the weekend had told me they heard she was transferring to Casey-Westfield. I laughed at that rumor and assured them that she would be in a United Red Storm uniform her senior season. She won't be heading to a Western Big 6 school, either, so I will squash any rumors right there.

Speaking of rumors, I also heard two other rumors in East Peoria involving potential transfers. I won't divulge names or schools, but one involves a northern school in boy's basketball, and another central or southern (depending on where you draw the line) softball player.

The Red/Gray game looked to be a great pitcher's duel....and only about 16 hours removed from the two facing off in the Class 4A state championship game. Orland Park Sandburg's Brit Gardner faced Fremd's Lena Brottman. On Friday in the semifinals, Brottman set a Class 4A tournament game record, with 16 strikeouts. I met both Brottman's father and her teammate Kelly Voigt's dad on Friday before the Elk Grove/Fremd matchup. I was looking for Elk Grove fans to get pronunciations, and the Vikings and Trevians both happen to have forest green as their main color. I chatted with both dads for a few minutes, and they let me know that they had quite a bit of family out of state watching the broadcast.

Brit Gardner struck out 7 batters through four innings. The game ended in the top of the 5th inning, when the lightning siren sounded. Fremd's Lena Brottman was at-bat facing Gardner, when the premises had to be evacuated. There was only three hits in the game, which was scoreless. Sara Rogers (Canton) hit a standup double to the left-centerfield wall in the 2nd inning, Justine Phillips (Metamora) had a base hit in the 1st inning, and Erin Huddleston (Normal West) hit a double off the left field wall in the 3rd inning. Brottman struck out 3 batters in 3 innings.

With the lightning delay, I had thought about sticking it out to see what would happen, but decided to take a drive, get some gas and something to drink. I stopped at Thornton's gas station in East Peoria and filled up. It was there, that the rains started to pour down. The grounds crew hadn't layed a tarp as I was leaving, so with the amount of rain that was going to fall, I assumed that the games would just be scrapped. With the Lakis Shootout in boy's basketball going on all day at Monmouth College, I headed west.

Lakis Shootout
I pulled into Monmouth shortly after 2:00, and I had to drive around the block on the campus of Monmouth College. It's tough to get a parking spot for a regular game, featuring two teams at the school, let alone 40 teams converging on five gyms inside.

It was a nice walk, about two blocks, and worked off a little bit of the Hamburger personal pan pizza I ordered at Hoop's in Peoria the night before. I checked out Glennie Gymnasium, the main court first. Sherrard head coach Ryan Kelly was right inside at the top of the bleachers, so I talked with him for several minutes. The game was Arcola vs. Galesburg JV. It was a low scoring affair, with Arcola pulling out a, 13-10 win. Sherrard lost quite a bit from a very talented class of 2010. Kelly is pretty high on his junior class this upcoming season, but said they need some experience.

The next game on the court was Rockridge vs. Seneca, and I went down to the bleachers to shoot some video. Rockridge looked pretty good, as they have been very young the last couple years. This could be a year that Rockridge threatens in the Olympic....no wait....West Central Conference. They are led by Joe Heath, Hunter and Connor Frakes, and Jeremy McManus. They have a lot of varsity experience, and Heath will just be a junior. The Rockets edged Seneca, with a three-pointer late in the game by Hunter Frakes.

Next up on the Glennie floor, was Macomb taking on Danville, Iowa. Before the game, I headed over to have a quick chat with Bombers head coach Danny Watson. He said his team was doing pretty good this weekend, and they were nipped by large-school Troy Triad.

I took a few minutes of video of the Macomb/Danville game, and looking at the schedule, I wanted to see Orion play, led by Tanner Williams. First, a game that was winding down was United and West Central. I shot some video of the game since both teams are in the radio station coverage area.

After a few shots, I walked down to court 3, where Orion was playing Deer Creek-Mackinaw. I ran into Jeff Williams, Tanner's dad, and asked how the Chargers were doing. He said Dee-Mack had just hit a pair of three-pointers, and Orion trailed. I asked about the AAU schedule for Tanner's team, which has won every tournament they've played in. They have upcoming tournaments in Iowa, South Dakota, Milwaukee, and the Nationals in Orlando.

Fittingly, I was able to get some video of Tanner Williams hitting an outside shot, and later scoring on a post move. Unfortunately, Orion offense was on the other end, so it wasn't very close video. Dee-Mack looked impressive, and would beat Orion, ending the Chargers day. Dee-Mack has a kid (David something, I believe), that was a very nice player, long and extremely athletic.

I noticed that Kewanee was having their way with a tough Camp Point Central team, as the Boilermakers led at one point, 23-5. The Boilers are a team to watch, as they were pretty good last year, and return quite a bit. They are pretty explosive and athletic. Heading over to that court, I talked with Orion head coach Brent Hutton. He lost some talented seniors that made a run to the Sectional title game this past season, but he returns Caleb Nesbitt, who moved out of district, as well as Andy Adams, a transfer coming in from Princeton. Hutton says that Adams has a very high basketball IQ. He was not at the shootout on Sunday, but had played on Saturday.

Next up, I wanted to see the Knoxville/Wethersfield game. Flying Geese head coach Jeff Parsons had told me a couple months ago that he was very excited about the upcoming season, and has an extremely talented freshman class coming in. One player, is the brother of former Wethersfield standout Jason Angel (1999). He looked like a project, a little rusty, but I would watch out for this kid.

While watching this game, Danny Watson came up asking if I had seen the trainer. Apparently in the Farmington/Princeton game, a kid got his throat stepped on. He would be okay. Monmouth-Roseville sophomore coach Doug Dennison also stopped, and talked about the weekend, and how some of the freshman had stepped in to roles playing competitive high school basketball for the first time.

I walked back over to the Glennie gym, and ran into Illini West head coach John Hughs, who was with Scott McGaughey. The Chargers have a depleted lineup on the day, with only seven players suiting up for the Carthage-based school. I have known McGaughey for several years, since he worked at First State Bank in Carthage and LaHarpe. His son, Evan, is a 6'6" junior. As I was talking to the Illini West group, ROWVA assistant Mike Horton walked in the other door. Horton was formerly an assistant at Bushnell-Prairie City and South Fulton, and now works with Jason Lydic at ROWVA. Horton is a Knoxville alum.

Speaking of Knoxville alumni, I found out that Jim Noonan (United Red Storm head coach) and Farmington athletic director Eric Matthews were Blue Bullets. I didn't know either of them had graduated from KHS. I was talking with Noonan, who only went to Knoxville for his senior season, 1994. He mentioned that he was with Toby Vallas (Knoxville football coach) and Matthews.

Monmouth-Roseville was facing Abingdon, and I wanted to get a peak at a couple of Titans freshman, Martel Hunter and Trayvon Smith. The Titans have lacked a post player the past couple seasons, and Smith could get thrown in the varsity mix in his first year. He was very impressive, and got right in there. He made a couple of nice post moves, and scored a few baskets for the Titans. Hunter looked a little hesitant, and didn't have quite the day I was expecting. These two have A LOT of time to work with, though. The Titans would handle the Commandoes, rather easily. Abingdon has a very young team.

After this game, I had to make a food run, not eating anything all day, and it was now 4:00. I ran to McDonald's, which was something I didn't want to do, but it was quick, cheap, and easy. I didn't go over the top, just a couple cheeseburgers and fries.

After getting back to Monmouth College after a quick bite, the Titans were back on the floor facing Midwest Central. Trayvon Smith, again, had a very nice game, and Alex Temple and Alex Bresnahan both hit some nice shots. Monmouth-Roseville should be in the mix for a conference title, if the progression can continue through the offseason, and through the upcoming winter year. The Raiders are very talented, and surprised me. They beat Mon-Rose by about four or five points, and have a nice mix of a couple spot-on shooters, with a couple bangers down low.

When I walked in, I talked with Titans girl's basketball coach Jim Cole, and asked what his summer schedule was. Monmouth College hosts a shootout at the end of the month with about 24 teams, and the Titans will also be headed to Camp Point Central in July, along with playing in the Tuesday night league at Galesburg.

As the games on the side courts were coming to an end, I talked with Abingdon head coach Jeremy Anderson and Titans coach Chuck Grant. Anderson and I discussed his team, and how young the Commandoes will be in 2010-11. We were also equally impressed with the play of Midwest Central. He also informed me that the Commandoes had to drop a couple non-conference games, as the result of some budget moves. They will not play Wethersfield and West Central on the schedule. We also talked about the Abingdon/Avon/B-PC consolidation talks, and it looks unlikely that it will pass through all three districts.

The championship game of the tournament is set, with Illini Bluffs taking on Midwest Central. The Raiders hit some nice shots, and should be a contender for a decent run in 2010-11 if everything turns out. Cooper Meyer drove the length of the floor with 0:04 remaining in a tie game to hit a layup at the buzzer, giving Midwest Central an 18-16 win and the tournament championship.