Spring sports in high schools play at the mercy of the weather for outdoor sports. Indoor sports of boys volleyball, girls badminton, boys gymnastics, and boys and girls water polo, have few weather-related problems. The Spring season is made shorter by the cold, snow, and rain.
That is rain, as in the saying for the old Boston Braves in 1948 of, “Spahn and Sain, and pray for rain.” Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain were two top notch pitchers for the National League champions in 1948, however, the rest of the pitching staff perpetually needed assistance, often, so the chuckle goes, from the weather to give the two pitching leaders extra rest to pitch.
Eventually, the weather will cooperate, even though the first two games for the Class A minor league Kane County Cougars in baseball never had an opportunity to start: Snow and cold prevailed.
The girls softball and boys baseball in high school sports will culminate with State tournaments June 8-9, Friday and Saturday.
State tournament play in other sports will begin May 11-12 with finales in girls badminton and boys gymnastics and continue each weekend through June 8-9.
This school year will mark the end of both DuPage Valley Conference and Upstate Eight Conference as we know it. Four teams from the nine-team DuPage Valley Conference, Wheaton Warrenville South, Wheaton North, Glenbard North, and Lake Park, will begin a new alignment in the Fall season, the DuKane Conference. The four teams from DuPage Valley will be joined by four of the 13 teams in the Upstate Eight, Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles East, and St. Charles North. The DuPage Valley, after offers had been turned down by Bolingbrook, Oswego, and Oswego East, will be a five-team conference next season. Glenbard South will leave the Metro Suburban Conference and join the Upstate Eight Conference to boost the number of schools to 10.
• Lacrosse is new to the landscape in the Illinois High School Association (IHSA). After waiting for more than five years and seeking to fill the ranks with schools, boys and girls tournments will be held in sectional play May 18-25. The State tournaments will be May 31 and June 2 for boys and June 1-2 for girls, both at Hinsdale Central High School.
There are 78 boys teams in eight sectional tournaments poised to play which will funnel into four super-sectional sites. There are 60 girls teams aligned in the same manner. Lacrosse is a combination of soccer, hockey, and basketball.
The only Aurora teams are Marmion Academy boys, Waubonsie Valley High School/Metea Valley High School cooperative in boys and Metea/Waubonsie in girls. Metea Valley will be one of the eight girls sectional sites with Batavia and Glenbard West sites in boys. There are no Oswego team. Marmion has had a club team for many years and held an annual tournament. Both Naperville Central and Naperville North have fielded teams and so did many West Suburban Conference schools.
West Aurora has a club team in boys and no team in girls. “We have a club boys lacrosse team,” West Aurora athletic director Jason Buckley said earlier this week. “We are not participating in the IHSA State series. There has not been enough interest to start a girls program.”
Hoffman Estates should be saluted for being host to boys and girls sectional tournaments and boys and girls super-sectionals tournaments while preparing for the State boys volleyball tournament, June 1-2. It should be interesting.