Joe Aguilar

1 day ago | shawlocal.com | Joe Aguilar

GRAYSLAKE – Mark Pachla’s fastball might not be able to break a pane of glass, but the senior righty sure is a pain to baseball hitters. Crystal Lake South’s 75-mph thrower has been hearing it from opponents his whole varsity career. His fastball makes their eyes get wide. Hitters expect line drives, only to have long drives home after being frustrated by the crafty Pachla.

2 days ago | shawlocal.com | Joe Aguilar

McHENRY – As Kaden Wasniewski gets closer to a potential return to the mound for McHenry, the Warriors at least got their sophomore baseball star back on the infield Wednesday. And just in time to make a potential, momentum-changing play. Wasniewski, McHenry’s third baseman, snagged a line drive off the bat of Huntley’s dangerous AJ Putty and turned it into a double play in the fifth inning.

3 days ago | shawlocal.com | Joe Aguilar

GLEN ELLYN – As soon as they completed postgame handshakes and stick taps with Downers Grove North, Crystal Lake Central captains Addie Bechler and Fiona Lemke sprinted to receive the supersectional plaque so they could enjoy the historic moment with their teammates. Finally, after three years of season-ending losses to Lake Forest following a sectional title, Central’s two four-year varsity players felt super after a supersectional.

1 week ago | shawlocal.com | Joe Aguilar

CRYSTAL LAKE – Beating its crosstown rival that hadn’t lost a postseason baseball game in two years, and beating the hitter who beat them up all year, required everything Crystal Lake South had. Carson Trivellini delivered two perfect, shutdown innings in relief. His teammates delivered two big, fifth-inning swings, including a go-ahead RBI two-bagger by No. 22, junior first baseman Dane Chock.

1 week ago | shawlocal.com | Joe Aguilar

His kicking started at a young age, with an old-school toy substituting for a soccer ball. “I remember playing soccer with a tin can, with my neighbors,” Oreoluwa Sobodu said. It’s about the only memory the Dundee-Crown junior has of living in Nigeria, where he was born and lived until he was 4, when his family moved from West Africa to the U.S. Nigerian natives Adee and Victoria have raised their four children in Carpentersville ever since then.