Colbert Column

Baseball

Warren 10, Oregon 5: A five-run fifth inning wasn’t enough as the Hawks dropped their first game of the season, falling behind 4-0 after the top of the first inning.

Josh Crandall drove in two runs and scored another, and Gabe Eckerd added an RBI for Oregon, while Jackson Werren doubled and scored. Miley Smith took the loss, allowing seven runs (four earned) and seven hits in 2 1/3 innings, striking out four and walking two.

Forreston 6, Lena-Winslow 1: The Cardinals tacked onto an early 2-0 lead with a four-run third inning to open the season with a win at home.

Tommy Appel had two hits and scored twice, Owen Greenfield and Brendan Greenfield each had two hits and an RBI, and Noah Johnson drove in a pair of runs for Forreston. Dylan Greenfield, Logan Dyson and Owen Greenfield combined to allow zero earned runs and just four hits, striking out 12 and walking six.

Softball

Oregon 16, River Ridge-Scales Mound 4,

5 inn.: Liz Mois went 4-for-4 with an RBI, and Gracen Pitts drove in four runs to lead the Hawks to victory in their season opener, played at Dillehay Park in Mt. Morris.

Mois had a ground-rule double, and Pitts ripped a triple for Oregon. Ella Dannhorn stole four bases and scored three runs, and Lena and Mia Trampel combined to strike out nine.

Lena Trampel started and struck out five in three innings, and Mia Trampel notched four Ks in two innings of relief.

Forreston 9, Lena-Winslow 6: The Cardinals won the first game of the season at home, scoring two runs in each of the first three innings before adding three more in the fifth.

Kara Erdmann tripled, homered and drove in a run, and Rylee Broshous had a single, double and two RBIs for Forreston. Hailey Greenfield had two hits and two RBIs, Jenna Greenfield went 3-for-4, and Brooke Boettner added a double for the Cardinals. Erdmann went the distance in the circle, striking out 12 with a walk while giving up six runs and six hits.

Newman 4, Polo 0: The Newman and Polo softball teams came out with cold bats Tuesday evening in the season opener for both teams at Westside Park, but the Comets came alive in the sixth inning, scoring three runs on their way to a 4-0 victory.

Both teams were held scoreless through five innings, as starting pitchers Madelynn Jones and Jess Johns brought the heat early.

With two outs in the top of the seventh inning, Johns hit an RBI double to score Sophie Ely. Boelens induced a flyout to right field on the next at-bat, but the Marcos were down 4-0 heading into the final frame.

Jones led off with a walk, but was thrown out at second on a Lindee Poper fielder’s choice. Johns induced a groundout for out No. 2, then tossed one final strikeout to seal the win.

Girls soccer

Oregon 4, Galena 0: The Hawks started their season with a shutout of the Pirates at Oregon Park West.

Alyssa Mowry and Mya Engelkes both had a goal and an assist, and Kenna Wubbena and Gracie Prose also scored goals. Karina Ocampo and Hadley Lutz both dished assists.

Boys basketball

Several local boys basketball players earned spots on the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association All-State teams.

Newman senior Marcus Williams and Eastland senior Kellen Henze were both first-team picks in Class 1A, and Fulton’s Baylen Damhoff was a second-team selection.

Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@shawmedia.com Polo’s Madelyn Jones fires a pitch against Newman on Tuesday.

SPORTS COLUMN

The ins and outs of the boys state basketball tournament

Time to put a cap on the highs c h o o l b a s k e t ba ll s e a s o n , with four boys champions crowned at Champaign last Saturday.

Let’s start with 1A, where Yorkville Christian dominated tourney play, winning its games by a margin of 40 points game. Bottom line – this was an all-star team that had an unfair advantage over the rest of the field.

How else could a school that started with 13 students in 2014 and has only been IHSA-sanctioned since 2016 make such a meteoric rise? After playing a 3A/4A schedule with a Duke recruit on its roster, Yorkville Christian entered the postseason with 13 losses.

But, as one player was quoted as saying, “Now we get to release our anger on (1A) teams.”

Yorkville knew they would make a m o c k e r y o u t o f t h e t o u r n a m e n t , though Liberty gave them all they could handle in the first half of the championship game before falling away in the second half.

H e r e i s w h e r e t h e s t o r y g e t s weirder. Yorkville also won the 1A state dual wrestling meet. How is that possible when only 60 students are in the school?

All of us were making a big deal of how Scales Mound, with 77 students, managed to make the state basketball tournament in a once-in-century team. That was such a long shot in itself.

Everyone was happy for the Scales Mound, but few felt the same about small-school enrollment Yorkville, including fellow Christians such as myself.

They did play by the IHSA roles, which will never be fair as long as private and public schools compete in the same postseason. Some states have separate tourneys, but that isn’t necessarily the best solution either.

There will never be an equitable answer to the public-private debate and the IHSA does its best to minimize competitive advantage by the privates.

The 2A and 3A state finals came down to last-second shots, with downstate teams bringing good crowds to the State Farm Center. Glenbard West, a public school from the suburbs and one of the best in Illinois in recent memory, dominated 4A and had a huge following.

I wasn’t at Champaign, but had “boots on the ground” with friend Dan Engelkes present. Curious as to his take on comparing Champaign to Peoria, site of the state tournament for the past 25 years

“It was a better game atmosphere,” Englekes said. “But hotel prices higher and logistics of going anywhere are way worse. Nothing walkable so extra cost for Uber, etc.”

He said the crowds were much better for 3A/4A on Friday than 1A/2A on Thursday.

“Sparse yesterday. Better energy today but a lot of empty seats, “ he added. “No one at third-place games tonight.”

Yes, the third-place games make no sense, especially considering they were played the same day as the semifinals. Other than friends and family members of the two teams playing, no one cares.

I also checked in with longtime Rockford Register Star writer Matt Trowbridge, who was in Champaign reporting on Scales Mound.

“Scales Mound has big crowds, but I don’t think the move (to Champaign from Peoria) or change to four classes together in three days helped,” Trowbridge said. “I think Peoria and Normal have better arenas for high school basketball.”

Though they got hammered by Liberty in the semifinal, Scales Mound was happy to get a bit of redemption in the third-pace game with a decisive victory. That at least proved their trip downstate wasn’t a by-product of a weak field of teams in northern Illinois.

For as long as the state tournament has been in existence, there has been the school of thought that superior basketball is played in southern and central Illinois than what is found in the north.

As we close the door on the Scales Mound story, here is one statistic that hardly any other team in the state could ever say and that is 5,000 varsity p o i n t s c o l l e c t i v e l y s c o r e d b y i t s seniors.

The only way something like that is possible is the amount of time these kids have spent on the varsity roster, most playing since freshmen.

GUEST VIEW

Andy Colbert

• Andy Colbert, an avid runner, has been a sports writer for Shaw Media and has covered high school sports in Ogle County for more than 30 years.