Girls badminton and boys gymnastics will be the first high school State tournaments, each May 9-10. Badminton sectionals will begin Monday, April 29.
• West Aurora High School softball head coach Randy Hayslett said, “We have been hitting the ball pretty well this year. Our leading hitter is Gabi Nilles (.490, 10 stolen bases). Rose Marmolejo is at .424 with one home run and 11 RBIs. Kennedy Zies is hitting .375 and leads the team in home runs with four and 13 RBIs.
“We have five pitchers who see time. Eternity Gonzales had a perfect game against Glenbard East and three wins. Payton Lundberg has three wins and Gab Drager two, Sara Archer, one. Rose Marmolejo also pitches for us.
“We lost a key player before the season started, Janae Holloway, who was our leadoff hitter and starting second baseman last year. She had surgery to repair a torn labrum in her shoulder. Our starting shortstop, Sophia Delgado, missed almost two weeks with a concussion, but, is back and playing well….We have two freshmen, Riley Mont (second base) and Sara Archer (3B/OF/P.” The team was 9-7 overall and 4-2 in the Upstate Eight.
• West Aurora baseball head coach John Reeves listed a few accomplishments: “We are off to a nice start, swept Bartlett and East Aurora. Justin Zimmerman threw a perfect games against East Aurora Saturday. Playing South Elgin this week is a big series that may determine the conference championship.”
Key players include seniors Alec Losselyoung, 2B/C Anthony Malczyk, OF; Danny Marion, OF; Logan Mont, P/C; and Eddie Wilson, P. Shortstop Ryan Teuscher is out with an upper body injury. West Aurora was 13-4-1 overall and 9-2-1 in the Upstate Eight.
• Aurora Christian’s baseball team moved up this year to Class 2A from the smaller 1A. The Eagles were 9-4-1 early this week and 6-0 in the Metro Suburban Red. “We are hitting the ball well,” said head coach Andy Zorger, “and we have a solid pitching staff.”
Junior Jake Kuntzendorf leads the way. He verbally committed to Purdue University. His stats thus far: 2-1, won-loss; 1.97 ERA, 49 Ks and eight BBs. Last year he was 10-0, 1.67 ERs, 105 Ks and 18 BBs.
The offense is led by Sam Tickel, .435 batting average, five triples, 20 RBIs; MJ Stavola, .333, 18 SBs, and 100 career hits; Trey Madsen .511 average, 23 hits, 19 SBs; Kuntzendorf, .444 avg., 13 RBIs