Lane Wins City Championship 5-3 over Kenwood

It didn’t look good for Lane late in the City Championship game on Monday at Wrigley Field. Kenwood’s senior left-hander Kevari Thunderbird was rolling. He held the Champions scoreless giving up only two hits through five and a third.

Thunderbird hit his pitch count limit with one out in the sixth. It looked bleak for the Champions after Kenwood senior left-hander and center fielder Khamaree Thomas took over for Thunderbird promptly striking out two Champions to keep the shutout going.

But Lane’s head coach Sean Freeman, channeling his inner Jason Heyward, gathered his team during a long delay before the Champions came to bat in the top of the seventh. Not the rain from the Heavens like in Cleveland for the Cubs but an injured umpire stopped the game for an extended period. Freeman rallied his group for one last chance at the City Championship on the big stage.

“I mentioned the 49ers v. the Ravens when the lights went out and the Ravens ended up coming back. I said we are going to do that right here. It ended up being great.”

With one out, junior shortstop Ted Greco walked. Standout right freshman Sebastian Wilson crushed a double to right center advancing Greco to third. Senior Ethan Borggren singled to left scoring Greco.

Then it was Tyler Trapp’s turn. The junior second baseman struggled early in the game with two errors and a strikeout.

“It was a change-up just perfectly down the middle in my perfect spot and I just did everything I know,” said Trapp. He crushed it over the centerfielder’s head to score Wilson and Borggren. Just that quick, the game was tie. Tyler’s celebration at second base was reminiscent of the Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo in the tenth inning of the seventh game of the 2016 World Series.

Keeping it going, Champions’ outfielder Henry Owens walked on four pitches. Sophomore third baseman Ronan Owens crushed a long sacrifice fly to right field advancing Trapp to third.

Henry Owens stole second.  

With two out and men on first and second, catcher Elias Padilla singled scoring two runs to give the Champions a 5-3 lead with the Broncos still to bat.

Winning pitcher senior Oliver Evans stayed in for the bottom of the seventh. Strike out swinging for Kenwood’s Damaurion Butler. One out. Kenwood’s Jimmy Downs struck out swinging as well. Two down.

Kenwood’s clean-up hitter, senior first baseman Savion Flowers chopped a ground ball to first base. Ethan Borggren grabs it beating Flowers to the bag. Wrigley erupted in celebration. The Champions rushed out of the first base dugout onto the field. Hats and gloves flew into the air. Players ran into center field in celebration.

Foul ball.

After things settled down a bit. Sean Freeman walked out through the infield telling his team that the umpires had ruled the grounder a foul ball. The game would go on.

With Flowers back in the box and Evans back on the mound, Flowers hit a high fly ball to left. Champions’ senior Grant Leff gloved it. This time it was over. Champions won the Chicago Public League City Championship at Wrigley Field for the second time in three years. A second celebration ensued.

Of Kenwood pitcher Kevari Thunderbird, Freeman could not say enough. “He is a great pitcher. I tip my cap to him. He was the best player on the field today. I knew that once he hit the limit, if we could get him there, our odds would obviously go up a little bit,” said Freeman, not a man given to exaggeration.

The Lane players showed a maturity well beyond their years. Frankly, Thunderbird had them well under control for most of the game. Even when he got in a jam, as he did in the third and fourth, he got himself out of trouble with strikeouts.

“We were trying to work the counts as deep as we could. We knew that he would be pulled after 115 pitches,” Trapp said. Having committed two errors early in the game, Trapp stayed in the game mentally and physically.

“I just let the errors stay in the past. I can’t change the past. I just keep looking toward the future, toward my next opportunity,” Trapp said.

Next opportunity is the IHSA playoffs that start Wednesday.

[As for the photos, I worked up about three or four times as many as I usually do delaying the posting of them. I figured more is better under these unique circumstances. Not often—okay probably never again—will these players get photos of themselves playing at Wrigley Field.]

Lane Defeats Morgan Park 5-2 in CPL Playoffs

The Lane Tech Champions defeated the Morgan Park Mustangs 5-2 on Thursday afternoon at Kerry Wood Cubs Field. The Campions advance to face Whitney Young on Saturday at noon at UIC’s Les Miller Field at Curtis Granderson Stadium—isn’t that a mouthful.

Lane improved its record to 24-9, 14-0 in conference.

A spirited Morgan Park team made the trek north to face the Champions in the quarterfinal of the Chicago Public League baseball playoffs. The single elimination tournament will culminate in a championship game at Wrigley Field the coming Monday at 5:00 p.m. Admission is free. There is also free parking at the Cubs lot at Clark and Grace.

My Photos from DePaul Prep v. Notre Dame IHSA 2A Third Place Game

The DePaul Prep Rams took on the Notre Dame Raider (Quincy) in the IHSA 2A Third Place game at the Peoria Chiefs’ Dozer Park. Unfortunately, the Rams came up on the short of end of the crappy scoreboard the Dozer. 7-2.

Even so, it was great experience. It was a little surprise how few members of the press covered the finals. No one except me from Chicago and guy from the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Garen Vartanian, his story is here: https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/columbia-rolls-state-championship-game-230351543.html. It appeared in the Post Dispatch first but its behind a pay wall now). There were a couple guys from Shaw Media covering the 1A games. Maybe it’s just the lack of sports coverage in general or maybe it’s just that high school baseball does not generate a lot of interest.

Nevertheless, it did happened. My photos will prove it. Here are the photos from the third place game.

My last event of the school year. God willing I will be back in the fall.

DePaul Prep Baseball is Going to State; 13-3 Victory over Byron

The DePaul Prep Rams (23-14, 8-8) landed in Rockford for the IHSA 2A baseball super-sectional against the Byron Tigers. The convincing 13-3 win sends the Rams to the State Finals in Peoria this coming weekend.

Before, during and after the game, the Rams were loose. Didn’t seem like a super-sectional. Just like another game. Just fun to play baseball. Not so much for Sam Colon, the Rams’ first-year manager. His normal easy going demeanor seemed a bit more focused, serious, businesslike.

And land on the Byron Tigers the Rams did with four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Byron rallied with three in the top of the second. That’s about as good as they had. The Rams just put it on them after that. Three in the bottom of the second. Another in the fourth. Three more in the fifth and two in the bottom of the sixth for a walk off ten run slaughter rule victory.

Senior pitcher, the always focused and businesslike Robert Rivera pitched well. Rivera struggled in the top of the second. A balk with nobody out and men on first and third scored the Tigers’ A. Lorenz from third.

“I just thought shake it off. Being the pitcher on the mound, you’re the leader. I have hold my composure and show everyone it’s not going to phase me. Even letting in those three runs, I knew I could fight back,” Rams’ pitcher Robert Rivera said.

“I changed up my mechanics. I went to stay closed longer. I started leaning more toward the plate. It helped me control my curveball. It really upped my [velocity] on my fastball too.”

The three runs in the top of the second were the only runs he would allow.

At bat, the whole team contributed--total team victory. Michigan commit and the fastest man on the field, AJ Garcia had a hit, a stolen base and two walks scoring three runs. Vance Kurakowa had a hit and run scored. Catcher Oliver Vigerust was hit by a pitch, had a hit and a base-on-balls. First baseman Kevin O’Connor had a huge game with three hits, two RBI’s and a walk. Griffin Horne had a hit and scored two runs. Beni Espinosa had three hits, four RBI’s, scored two runs and a walk. Third baseman Cameron Klein three hits and an RBI. Carter Levine two hits and three RBI’s, not to mention a spectacular diving catch in right field. Addison Latko had two hits, including a legged out triple and gapper in right center, and scored a run, but no homeruns today.

As hurtful as the super-sectional loss to Byron by the DePaul Prep womens’ basketball team was in March, this emotional super-sectional victory for the Rams took some of the sting out of it.

“I told Sarah [Zarymbski, girls basketball coach and 2014 Gordon Tech classmate of the Sam Colon] that we would get some revenge for her,” Rams head coach Sam Colon said after the game.   

“This team has got all the talent in the world. It’s a matter of can you put it all together in a year. Our first goal was to win the [Chicago Catholic] League [White]; we put ourselves in a position to get there. We didn’t get there. The next goal was to get a second season. The expectation was to get to Peoria. Now it’s to win it.”

It’s third trip to State for the Rams so far this year. Mitch Baum’s boys’ cross-country team won a state title in November. Tom Kleinschmidt’s boys’ basketball team won the 2A basketball state title in March. Now it’s Sammy’s turn.

The Rams will face the Columbia High School Eagles (30-4), from south of St. Louis, at the Peoria Chiefs’ stadium, Dozer Park, on Friday at 3:00 p.m. The other state semi-final will feature Joliet Catholic v. Quincy Notre Dame. The Championship game will be Saturday at 5:30.

DePaul Prep Defeats ITW Speer 16-1 on Senior Night

DePaul Prep Defeats St. Ignatius 6-2

The DePaul Prep Rams defeated the St. Ignatius Wolfpack 6-2 at the brand new baseball field at Rice Park in a Chicago Catholic League showdown.

“We’ve been talking about it the last two weeks. We’ve got to produce with runners in scoring position. We have struggled a little bit with that,” said Rams’ manager Sam Colon.

Up 3-0 in the top of the fourth, with two down and two strikes on him, freshman catcher and left fielder Addison Latko rifled a shot between third base and the third baseman. Oliver Vigerust, Kevin O’Connor and AJ Garcia came around to score putting the Rams up 6-0.

“That was big time for the freshman for sure,” continued Colon.

DePaul’s senior pitcher Dylan Kaminski (3-0) continued his dominance only giving up two hits and no runs through five innings. However, with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, up by six runs, Kaminski found a little trouble.

Kaminski gave up a sharpe single to center, then a walk, then another single on a ground ball to left. A throwing error allowed a run in, then another run scored when no one covered home on the throwing error.

That was that. The next batter popped up and the inning was over with two Wolves left on base.

Dylan set down the next Wolves from the Pack in order in the bottom of the seventh for a complete game Rams’ victory.

Rams move on to face Harvest Christian tomorrow and then start an important two game set against Montini.

DePaul Prep v. St. Rita

41 degrees is about as cold as I can take when photographing a baseball game.

The DePaul Prep Rams faced the St. Rita Mustangs at Kerry Wood Field to open Chicago Catholic League conference play.

I left after the fourth inning when the Rams were down 6-2. Other things to do unfortunately so I don’t know who won the game.

I am getting back into the swing of shooting baseball. I did not have my 300mm lens with me so these were taken from some weird angles from behind the screen. I had the GoPro going so I will get that video up soon also.

DePaul Prep Handles Clark 62-42 in 2A Sectional Semi-final

The DePaul Prep Rams (19-12) defeated the Michele Clark Eagles (19-7) 62-42 Wednesday evening in the 2A Christ the King sectional semi-final.

It was so nice to see Payton Kamin and Jaylan McElroy playing at a high level again. The Rams meshed into the team we hoped we would see when the season started. The injuries to Payton and Jaylan put all that on hold. Until tonight.

Payton had twelve of his twenty-eight points in the first quarter. The Rams really needed that. Getting down in the first quarter hasn’t work out well in recent games. Tom Kleinschmidt teams always play better with a lead. I suppose all teams do. I just mean that I cannot recall the Rams blowing a lead of eight or ten points. And I have seen most of the Gordon Tech/DePaul Prep games since 2013 or so.

Jaylan MeElroy was back too. I had him with eleven points. I don’t know how many rebounds but it was a lot. He was a presence in the lane on defense. Again, I don’t know how many blocks but a good number. A really nice job.

Terry Head’s Clark Eagles are good. Senior Cordy Johnson is a force and not afraid to drive the lane into Jaylan McElroy. The Eagles were taking it to the Rams in first quarter. The Rams were in the bonus not too long into the first quarter. Five of the Rams’ sixteen first quarter points were from free throws. No one is going to out physical the Rams; not with McElroy and Kamin back in the lineup. Such a strategy just sends them to the line. Usually not a good idea.

Ultimately, it was Payton Kamin’s emergence as a dominate scorer that buried the Eagles. Kamin’s twenty-eight on top of the usual production from Reece Thomas, PJ Chambers and Makai Kvamme worked out well. Sophomore point guard Makai Kvamme’s performance deserves a mention. Although Kvamme didn’t lead the scoring he reliably brought up the ball against the Eagles determined full court pressure. He gets better every game.

Eight fourth quarter free throws from Kamin didn’t really seal the victory; the game was mostly decided by the Rams’ third quarter defense. But Kamin’s free throws just took the life out of the Eagles. And it pushed the Rams lead to twenty points.

The Rams face North Lawndale (15-11) on Friday for the sectional championship. The North Lawndale coaches in attendance got a look at a Rams team they might not have expected to be back at full force. The only common opponent for the Rams and Phoenix is Clark. North Lawndale defeated Clark 61-55 in December.

Nice to be playing one’s best basketball going into the sectional championship.

See you Friday.

Amundsen Falls to St. Patrick 5-2 in 3A Regional Final

I wasn’t able to give this game the full treatment with a published story because of other commitments but I am so glad I could get to the game. I have been following Amundsen baseball largely because of the plight of their filed in Winnemac Park. But that’s now the story. This scrappy young squad from the formerly 47th Ward school, now 40th Ward, is the real story, They put together and excellent season with solid performance even in defeat, particularly against Lane and yesterday against St. Patrick.

Watch out for them next year. Now that the turned some heads, I suspect they will get a lot more attention.

As I tweeted, these young Vikings will raid the Northside and vanquish the hapless schools unprepared for attack. I know this is not the ninth century coast of Europe, but CPS schools ought start building their round towers now if they hope to survive next spring.

Now with that said about the Vikings, the Shamrocks have an excellent squad. Their picking was fantastic. I wasn’t scoring the game and neither team was feeding the Gamechanger app so I don’t have stats. But they did not give up many hits.

The Shamrocks line-up was solid top to bottom, their defense was sold and I didn’t catch too many base running mistakes. They took advantage of a disastrous third inning where the Vikings gave up three runs on some throwing errors.

I hope you like the photos. (And forgive my clumsy Norse analogies.)

Chris Haas Leaves DePaul Prep to Be AD at IC Catholic

We learned today that DePaul’s Prep’s head baseball coach and teacher is leaving to become the athletic director at IC Catholic high school in Elmhurst.

After seventeen years at Gordon Tech and DePaul Prep, Chris is moving up. I know coaches and teachers coming and going from high schools normal but I can scarcely conceive of DePaul Prep without Chris Haas. When my kids started at Gordon, Chris was the Bill Jeske’s offensive coordinator, he was at every home basketball game and of course, he was the manager of the very successful baseball program for GT and DePaul Prep.

With Mike Wieda, Paul Chabura, Sean Connor and now Chris Haas being snatched up by other schools, I hope the loss of all this coaching talent doesn’t hurt too much.

Best of luck Chris. Thanks for teaching and coaching my kids. We will miss you. Don’t be a stranger. I will have to get out to wherever IC Catholic is and photograph some games.

Go Rams!

DePaul Prep Falls to Timothy Christian 4-3

The DePaul Prep Rams fell to Timothy Christian 4-3 in twelve innings Monday evening in the 2A IHSA Regional Final. I am not sure I have seen a more exciting high school game. Back and forth. Extra base hits. Plays at the plate. Runs out stealing. Even a runner was hit by a batted ball—Haas was not happy.

The Rams scored in the top of the seventh to tie and then held the Trojans scoreless in the bottom of the frame to force extra innings.

Ultimately, the Rams fell in the bottom of the twelve innings. It was a great game in front of a big crowd. The Rams left it all on the field.

I wish I could give it the full treatment but just wasn’t set up to write a story about the game. I had spent the day at Wrigley for the Lane City Championship game. You will just have to settle for the photos.

Great job Rams!

At Wrigley Field for the CPS Baseball City Championship Game

I had the good fortune to cover the Lane v. Brooks CPS City Championship on Monday at Wrigley Field. I was in the photo well adjacent, really just part of the Cubs dugout. Very cool.

My article about the game which appears in today’s Inside Booster, Skyline and News Star and is also posted on this blog. I posted my photos from the game there. Many of the photos are unremarkable but I want to put them up so players and coaches might see themselves and others can get a better feeling for the action.

I parked for free in the Cubs “Camry Lot” on Grace. By chance, Quinn Harris and Kirsten Stickney pulled in behind me. Quinn and Kirsten are two of the best photographers anywhere. I have been lucky enough to get to know them some from shooting high school sports over the past few years. I have learned a great deal from them. They are wonderful people eager to help me. I greatly appreciate that.

Quinn takes the most beautifully exposed, colored and composed photos one will see anywhere. Kirsten’s gift for the reaction shot is unequaled. I try to get those shots but never come close to here level. Being there with them made it all the more special for me. Quinn took Kristen and I on a little tour of Wrigley and where to get the best shots. He shots at Wrigley quite a bit.

After the game, I was sitting at a table in the dugout working on my story and Pearl Jam’s “Someday We’ll Go All the Way” song come over the sound system. I got a little choked up.

I have known for some time that it is not advisable to both a photograph and report on the same game. When I started this amateur sports coverage stuff for Patrick Boylan and Mike Foucher’s Center Square Journal eleven years ago, I learned that if I try to do both, I do both poorly. I had to choose one or the other. I choose photography because I like it more. I am better at it than writing.

But I was at Wrigley to do a job. And so I did. I felt like a real working reporter. Frankly, it’s not something I are really up to. My wordsmithing could use plenty of help. I write these articles at the expense of my vanity, because there just isn’t enough reporting on high school sports out there. Michael O’Brien and Mike Clark can’t be everywhere.

As excited as I was to be shooting at Wrigley Field, I knew I really did not have the proper equipment to shoot a baseball game at a major league ball park. One really needs a 400mm/f 2.8 lens. My 7D with the 300mm lens is roughly that equivalent but the quality is greatly reduced—basically a poor man’s rig for the job. But that what I have, so I used it to some effect. I also have a 1Dx so its not like I don’t have good enough stuff. My failings as a photographer are not for want of good equipment. It’s just more suited to basketball.

This day, I concentrated on writing the article for Inside Publications. Throughout the game I kept asking myself, “what is the story of the game?” It didn’t take long to see that the story was how Lane Tech’s junior pitcher, Josh Katz, to over the game.

I cannot overstate how impressed I am with the poise of this young man. He is either 16 or 17 years old and yet he took the mound at Wrigley Field like a seasoned major league veteran and retired the first six batters he faced—1, 2, 3—in the first two innings.

When I spoke to him after the game, I could see just how genuinely excited and happy he was just to be playing at Wrigley Field. He did what he could to take it all in. After the game, I got some shots of him walking out into the infield in the direction of the bleachers just to soak it in.

In my questions, I brought it all back to baseball asking about what pitches he was throwing. He seemed even more excited talking about how his two-seamer was riding in on the hands of the Brooks batters.

Baseball is such a beautiful game played on the grass field between one's ears. Josh Katz gets it. His catcher Zach Shashoua gets it. Lane Tech manager Sean Freeman gets it. The whole Lane Tech Baseball Team, all 500 of them, get it.

I’m not Frank Deford or Rick Telander writing eloquently about the majesty of baseball. But I sure experienced the majesty of the game, our national pastime, at Wrigley Field on Monday. Truly a wonderful experience.

Lane Tech Defeats Brooks 2-1 at Wrigley Field to Win CPS City Baseball Championship

By Jack Lydon

The Lane Tech baseball team won the CPS city baseball championship 2-1 over Brooks Eagles Monday afternoon at Wrigley Field. 

The win came on the strength of an impressive four-hit, one run pitching performance by Lane Tech junior right-handed pitcher Josh Katz (6-0), who’s final win was for the championship over the Eagles.

But the game was not without some drama in the top of the seventh inning. 

Katz only had one earlier jam, in the top of the third, but he came through it unscathed. 

Taking a 2-0 lead into the final inning, Katz took the mound approaching a 100 pitches. 

The first two batters struck well hit singles up the middle. 

“I thought it might be the end after those two hits,” Katz said after the game. “I was just kind of trusting my stuff, being relentless, trusting my defense knowing that I have the best guys in the entire city behind me. So just being able to throw strikes, pound the zone, trust what I have done throughout the season.” 

Sun Times sports reporter Mike Clark asked Josh, “How many more pitches did you have left [at the end]?

“About five maybe, not many before we were going to have to go the bullpen,” Josh responded.

“It felt good to close that game out after going seven innings. To be able to win City, especially at Wrigley Field, it feels great.”

Katz was channeling his inner Kyle Hendricks—cool as a cucumber—coming off the Wrigley Field pitcher’s mound after setting Brooks down 1-2-3 in the first two innings.

“I was getting in my groove. I started feeling my stride and then I just continued to tell myself to throw strikes and trust my defense. That’s kind of all it is at a point, just throwing strikes and doing what I do.”

“I was mostly working the fast ball especially in the later innings. Just to be able to trust that. Today, I went with the two seam just to be able to jam their hitters.” 

Lane Baseball Team coach Sean Freeman left Katz in after the first two hitters reached in the seventh with a slender two run lead. 

“He had been throwing lights out all day, he’s been lights out for us in crunch time all year, so I had nothing but faith. We had a quite conversation when they had two guys on if we wanted to go [to the pen]. But I just told our pitching coach that it’s [Josh’s] game to lose. I have all the faith in the world in him. He has had multiple big moments throughout the year at the end of the game and he has always come through.” 

And that he did, after giving up one run, Katz got the last two batters out, and now the Lane Tech team is City Champs. 

Lane junior catcher Zach Shashoua said, “We’ve been there before. I have been playing with Josh since I was five. He’s got a fastball, a slider, a two seamer, a curveball and a change. The two seam was looking really nice today. He’s just always throwing strikes since he’s got the velocity. He found the zone, and we’re City champs.”

Lane starts IHSA 4A playoffs on Thursday as the five seed in the Glenbrook North Regional. Lane comes into the playoffs ranked 30th among 4A teams in Max Preps rankings. Don’t count out the Baseball Team especially with big time performances like today’s from Josh Katz.

Lane Tech Pitcher Ryan Wong Bringing Wicked Curveball to Cal Tech

This is a preview of my upcoming article for Inside Publications:

By Jack Lydon

Lane Tech senior Ryan Wong is a serious high school scholar with a wicked curveball. So much so, that Ryan will be throwing that pitch for the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, as well as studying computer science.

Ryan’s Lane Tech coach Sean Freeman, who has coached the 6’1” 185 lbs, senior right-handed pitcher since Ryan was ten years-old, speaks of Ryan in glowing terms.

“Ryan is one of our top pitchers. I feel like we have four #1 pitchers and Ryan in one of them. Ryan throws a 2 seam, a 4 seam, a curveball and slider. And he’s working on a change. His curveball has got the most break. It’s almost at a major league level for its spin rate. Pure stuff-wise that’s his best pitch. But he obviously throws hard and has a good fast ball for a high school kid,” said Freeman.

“The Cal Tech coaches are extremely happy about getting Ryan. Cal Tech is a newer program that is starting to build. They have a young team so he should get a lot of innings right away. They were very excited to get him,” said Freeman.

Ryan has put up some impressive numbers, five wins against two losses with the losses being to Warren Township and Evanston, two top programs. His earned run average is 2.538. His WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) is 1.189. He has 29 strike outs.

I saw Ryan pitch against Von Stueben on May 19, 2021. He got in a little trouble in the first giving up an unearned run but got out of the jam.

He settled down in the second, third and fourth setting the batters down in order.

The fifth was another story. His pitches were up. Von Stueben’s Quinn Basta crushed a line drive up the middle and into center field. Von’s right fielder Anthony Zamora pasted an up-and-in fastball between third and short.

Ryan caught a break when Basta was caught stealing third.

But Ryan walked Von’s third baseman Joe Gonzalez and pitcher Jacob Sfikas singled sharply to left to load the bases.

Ryan threw one outside and in the dirt that Lane catcher Charlie Johnson could not handle. The ball came back to the screen and Anthony Zamora scored from third. The official scorer called it a passed ball. I scored it a wild pitch. Let’s call it a passed ball.

Von Stueben sophomore second baseman hit a fly ball to center deep enough to score Gonzalez from third.

Ryan caught the next hitter looking for the third out. It could have been so much worse. Three well hit singles and a walk for Ryan in the fifth but two runs, only one earned.

What struck me about Ryan’s performance was how mature he was. He did not get rattled. He was pitching in the moment. It was great fun to watch.

And Ryan is putting up these numbers for no ordinary team and against top level competition. Lane is one of the biggest high schools in the state. The Lane baseball team (no longer the Indians) went 25-7 this year and 14-0 in CPS conference play.

Lane won its 4A Regional but dropped a heartbreaking back-and-forth loss to rival New Trier in the 4A Sectional semi-final on June 9, bringing an end to their season and Ryan’s high school career with it.

But Ryan is going to play in college at Cal Tech, a serious academic institution. Not many people play baseball after the age of eighteen. It requires a kind of freakish talent that the Almighty grants to a precious few among us.

As important as that baseball talent is, and it is, Ryan is a scholar as well.

Sporting a 5.31/4.00 GPA and a 34 on the ACT, Ryan took thirteen advanced placement course in high school. He is a member of the National Honor Society, Lane Scholars, Student Council and the Chess Team. He is member of the IHSA All-State Academic Team (2021).

I asked him how he does it. How is he going to handle a computer science major and varsity baseball at Cal Tech?

“It’s definitely going to be a challenge. But I think the work that I have had through high school and juggling baseball has really prepared me for next year. I have been in thirteen AP classes through high school so I think I might be ready. But it’s definitely going to be a challenge,” Ryan said.

College sports is all consuming. For many, the ones we see on television, the student athlete is more athlete than student. How important is baseball?

“I love the game. It’s probably the top priority right now. I love just being around the guys, being part of the team. It takes some of the stress of school and outside stresses away,” Ryan said.

His love for the game was evident when we returned to talking baseball. His big breaking curveball is indeed wicked and he can throw it for a strike.

“To a righty, I love to through the curve ball low and away. Get the swing and miss. Early in the count, I like the backdoor curve. It’s coming at them and breaks into the zone. It really depends on the hitter and the count,” Ryan said somehow with equal measures of pride and humility.

Bright future for a computer programmer with a wicked curveball.

Oh, and he is a golf caddie too. Doesn’t surprise me at all.

Old Photos Recovered

I started photographing sporting events in 2010. I didn’t start doing it regularly until 2011. At the time, I saved my photos to a Western Digital external drive.

At some point in late 2013, that drive failed. All drives fail. I learned a hard lesson that day. I looked into recovering the data at that time but I just didn’t want to spend the money. Frankly, it don’t even bother me that much. I just keep going.

With the COVID slowdown I was looking for photography stuff to do. I went back and took stock of my photos and my growth as a photographer. I wanted to see those photos again so I sent them off to a data recovery vendor. I am glad I did. They recovered 88,000 photos. Most of them I forgot all about. There are even some good ones.

I noticed a couple things. 1) I have learned a lot over the last ten years about exposure and composition; and 2) contrary to what many You Tube photographers like to say, the camera does matter—at least when it comes to sports photography.

In January 2010, I bought my DSLR, a Canon 2ti kit from Costco. The first basketball that I set out to photograph seems to the January 15, 2010, game between St. Benedict and Crane. I looked at the metadata for the photos. I was shooting at f4, 1/125 to 1/250 and ISO 3200. As I recall, I was struggling with exposure and had thought I needed to have the shutter speed that low. I learned later that shutter speed is king. One can boost exposure but there is no cure for blurry!

Since then, mostly through trial and error, I learned shutter speed is king. I learned composition mostly by imitating photographers that I was around, Worsom Robinson, Quinn Harris, Brian O’Mahoney, Allen Cunningham and Kirsten Stickney.

I watch a lot of You Tube photography videos, Tony and Chelsea Northrup, Jarrad Polin, Ted Forbes, etc. They all say—the camera doesn’t matter. Can one make great photos without a great camera? Yes. But if one wants to consistently make good sports photos—particularly basketball photos—you need good equipment; f2.8 lenses and a camera with high ISO capability.

The following are a few examples of my early photographs.

First Day of R-B Summer Shootout in the Books

Riverside Brookfield High School was packed on Friday evening (June 21, 2019) for the Summer Shootout. Fun to see this year’s versions of high school teams.

There were a million college coaches in attendance. The special seating areas were packed.

I only saw parts of a few games: Notre Dame v. Ridgewood, De LaSalle v. Nequea Valley, Whitney Young v. Oak Park River Forrest, DePaul Prep v. Belleville West.

I got a preview of the Notre Dame Dons with recent Evanston transfer Luis Lesmond. The Dons did not impress in win over Ridgewood. They just looked they were going through the motions but poured it on in the end winning 63-37.

DeLaSalle did not not impress. Lots of reckless individual effort without a whole lot of team coordination. I did not get a good sense of Nequea Valley, except they were big.

I saw a little of the Whitney Young v. Oak Park River Forest game. I was impressed with the OPRF’s point guard Demetrius Dortch.

DePaul Prep knocked off Belleville West 46-30. The Rams led the whole way. Brian Mathews dominated early play on the boards and scoring inside. He made the difference early. In the second half, the Maroons dialed up the pressure. The Rams struggled to score inside and Maroons cut into the lead. Three 3-pointers late kept the Rams ahead. Under two minutes, the Rams made their free throws and expanded their lead to 16 points.

It was a typical Tom Kleinschmidt win. Get a lead, push the ball up the floor—“Go with it,” run a weave, shoot the three and make free throws.

Headed back out there this afternoon to see the rest pool play.

As for the photos, I really wasn’t there to take photos. So I apologize if the photos were not up to my usual standards. The light was pretty good in the Fieldhouse. I pushed the ISO high and didn’t worry about it too much. The photos are pretty grainy but the only purpose for the photos is this blog post. They are not going to a newspaper or website so it doesn’t matter.

Come out and see next year’s players and teams.

DePaul Prep Edges Latin 4-3 to Win 2A Regional

The DePaul Prep Rams survived a very good Latin Romans team 4-3 Saturday evening at Kerry Wood Field to win their second consecutive 2A Regional Championship.

Wonderful game played by both teams. Romans played flawless defense. Rams pitching got the better of the Romans.

Rams move on to face Lisle High School at Illinois Benediction on Wednesday evening. The Rams beat Lisle 10-6 at Lisle in March. They look to repeat that performance and advance to the Sectional Final on Saturday against the winner of Aurora Christian (or Westmont—game suspended with Aurora Christian winning 10-0 in the 4th) v. Holy Trinity.

As for the photos, despite a 50/50 chance of rain at game time, conditions were pretty good. It did not rain at all. It was overcast but still pretty bright. No harsh shadows.

I shot at 1/2000 shutter speed and about 1000-1250 ISO. The high shutter speed is necessary for baseball. Next time it is bright I will go higher. The ISO graininess showed up on the tight crops but the real tight crops weren’t usable anyway.

I mostly changed around positioning. I was out on the field away from the fence, which I would rather not do but I had to change things up.

Not too many more baseball games this season. We’ll have to carry on next year. Hopefully by then I will have a 300mm 2.8. Absolutely necessary lens for baseball.

St. Ignatius Defeats DePaul Prep 10-2

The DePaul Prep Rams hosted the St. Ignatius Wolfpack Saturday (April 13, 2019) afternoon at Kerry Wood Field. The Wolfpack hitters were crushing the baseball, scoring two runs each in the first three innings. As is their way, the Rams keep fighting but could not come back, ultimately falling to St. Ignatius—10-2.

This had to be the high school baseball game with more well hit baseballs than any other I have seen. The Wolfpack absolutely pasted the baseball. Triple to the gap after triple to the gap after triple to the gap. St. Ignatius catcher J. Loftus hit a ball that I thought might leave Kerry Wood Field. I have never even seen one come close to hitting the fence. I had to watch to see if would go out. It didn’t.

St. Ignatius student photographer, junior Luke Hales, made his way up to the 47th Ward’s Kerry Wood Field for the game. He got some bad info on the start time and arrived a little later for the 4:00 p.m., start time. It didn’t much matter. He got some great shots. Luke is a very talented photographer and he’s like 16 years old. He knows how to operate the camera. Great color on his photos. He is developing an eye for composition.

My photos are not my best work. I struggled a little with the late afternoon light and shadows. The manual ISO was a problem. I should have gone auto. Nevertheless, shooting the game was useful. The photos might be ordinary, or worse, but I learned something.

DePaul Prep v. Peoria Richwoods

These are not my best photos. I had not planned to shoot this game. I knew I could not stay. I was driving by, my camera was in the trunk, so I thought I would stop and take a few photos. I used the 24-300mm, f5.6. Not the right lens for night baseball but I thought I would give it a try. This pushed the ISO too high making the photos grain and not sharp.

Okay, excuses out of the way, I got lucky on a few. I will be back to get some good ones when I can plan it out better and use the proper equipment.

Stay tuned.

High School Basketball Starts Today!

The high school basketball season starts today.

 I have been looking forward to this season for months now. Since the disappointing end to the DePaul Prep Rams season last March in the Sectional final.

The Rams come into this season ranked 21 in the Sun-Times Super 25 and 10 in Joe Henricksen’s Top 80 teams. Preseason rankings are all about expectations. So expectations for the Rams are high—very high. This will be the third season that this group of players have played together now at the varsity level. Each year they have gotten better and better. The Rams have one of the area’s top players—Perry Cowen. The Rams are among the favorites to win the Chicago Catholic League with Loyola, Leo and St. Rita.

The Rams are also seen by many observers as among the top teams in 3A with Morgan Park, Bogan, St. Viator and St. Rita. So the expectations are high for a deep run into the IHSA 3A playoffs.

It seems only a few short years ago that the Gordon Tech Rams had lost 33 Catholic League games in a row. Those days are long gone. Under Coach Tom Kleinschmidt, the Rams win games they should and pick off favorites here and there.

Personally, I am going to approach this like the 2016 Cubs season. Take the season in phases, enjoy every minute and not get weighed down by the expectations. God willing, we will all be in Peoria on March 16th for a matchup with can tell our grandkids about.

First phase, the Battle of the Bridge Tournament. So, see you at the Tom Wienicki Gym tonight at 6:00 p.m.

And I will also be shooting as many other games as I can get to while still remaining married.