sports
Baseball: Zach Aakhus parlays chance into long-running career with ThunderBolts
Zach Aakhus’ pro baseball career began with a trip that he figured was a long shot to lead anywhere. In 2009, after finishing his career at Northwest Nazarene University in Idaho, Aakhus attended the Frontier League’s tryout camp and draft. The Windy City ThunderBolts gave …
High School Sports
IHSA governs preseason football practice
Baseball: ThunderBolts defeat Florence Freedom 6-4
As they’ve struggled through the first month of the Frontier League season, Windy City ThunderBolts hitters often have been the victim of bad luck, with well-struck balls finding their way into an opponent’s glove. Perhaps Tuesday’s second inning was payback. The T-Bolts scored six runs …
ThunderBolts Notebook: Dyllon Nuernberg welcomes added duty
Dyllon Nuernberg knows he has some big shoes to fill. The fourth-year pro from Las Vegas is the man the Windy City ThunderBolts have turned to in order to fill the void in the starting rotation left when ace Mike Recchia was signed by the …
Boys Basketball: Evergreen Park taking summer sessions as lessons
The wins, losses and stats won’t count, but don’t tell Evergreen Park’s Alex Cheatham that summer games don’t matter. The senior forward has the cut and stitches over his right eye to prove how real they are. Playing against Nazareth, Cheatham went up for a …
Football: Lemont young but eager to extend winning ways
Albeit without a state championship, Lemont is in the team picture for most successful football programs in Illinois over the last decade. In the last nine years under coach Eric Michaelsen and his veteran staff, the Indians boast a 95-17 record. Lemont, which never lost more than three games in those nine seasons, was second in the state in 2007 and ’08, a quarterfinalist in ’09 and ’10 and semifinalist the last two years, all in Class 6A.
Baseball: St. Laurence’s Mike Kornacker the Beggars Pizza/SouthtownStar 2013 Baseball Player of the Year
Mike Kornacker had a season that will be difficult to duplicate. On the mound the St. Laurence right-hander was 7-1 — including two perfect games — with a 0.97 ERA. Five of his seven wins were shutouts. On offense, he hit .421 with 11 doubles, …
Baseball: Mount Carmel’s Brian Hurry the Beggars Pizza/SouthtownStar 2013 Baseball Coach of the Year
When Brian Hurry was preparing for his final season of baseball at College of St. Francis in Joliet, he experienced a moment that would alter his life forever. “A light bulb turned on inside my head,” Hurry, now 40, recalled. “Baseball had been in my …
Baseball: Beggars Pizza/SouthtownStar 2013 All-Area Baseball Team
Here is the 2013 Beggars Pizza/SouthtownStar 2013 All-Area Baseball Team.
Nationwide drivers raise funds for Leffler’s son
Like any catastrophic news, NASCAR Nationwide driver Regan Smith first heard of Jason Leffler’s death on social media. Leffler was killed Wednesday when the sprint car he was racing slammed into a wall during a race at a dirt track in Swedesboro, N.J. Leffler was …
Big day for Aakhus in ThunderBolts’ victory
The Windy City ThunderBolts took a lot of frustration out on the Southern Illinois Miners on Sunday night. Zach Aakhus drove in five runs and Daniel Cropper tossed eight shutout innings as the T-Bolts salvaged the final contest of the three-game series and snapped a …
Baranek: Podbielniak a prestigious prognosticator
I said it last year, and I guess I’ll have to say it again today. I should have listened to Wendy. The Wendy I’m talking about is Tinley Park coach Wendy Podbielniak, the one we had a big story about in Sunday’s paper for being …
Marist’s Wyderski is 2013 Jenny’s Steakhouse SouthtownStar Softball Player of the Year
Brooke Wyderski says she didn’t know how to react when not once, but twice, during Marist’s Class 4A sectional final game against Sandburg she was intentionally walked with a runner on first base. “I was not expecting it at all. I had never been intentionally …
Tinley Park’s Podbielniak is 2013 Jenny’s Steakhouse/SouthtownStar Softball Coach of the Year
If there’s one thing Tinley Park coach Wendy Podbielniak never will pass up, it’s a chance to present a challenge to her players. So it was two years ago when she spied Alyssa Gunther and Alyssa Williams looking at a pretty barren softball banner hanging …
2013 SouthtownStar All-Area Softball team
Here is the 2013 Jenny’s Steakhouse/SouthtownStar All-Area Softball Team.
Lemont’s Jerantowski is 2013 Chicago Fire/SouthtownStar Girls Soccer Player of the Year
Kim Jerantowski has made a habit out of making defenders look silly, using her dribbling skills to amaze fans with a wide array of crossover moves. There’s nothing she enjoys more. “I just love beating people,” she said. “Dribbling past people is just a lot …
Lincoln-Way North’s Murphy is 2013 Chicago Fire/SouthtownStar Girls Soccer Coach of the Year
When Lincoln-Way North went into the season after losing a supremely talented senior class in 2012 — a group that included 2012 Chicago Fire/SouthtownStar Girls Soccer Player of the Year Rita Craven, All-State midfielder Jessica Bean and two-time All-Area goalie Michelle Balcerzak, among others — …
