11U All-Stars capture championship

The Clarendon Hills Little League 11U All-Star softball team earned three times as many runs as its opponent to win the Illinois State Little League Championship last month.

The team defeated Kaneland 16-5 July 21 to capture the title. The girls already had faced Kaneland en route to the championship game.

"We were very hyped up and we believed that we were going to win, since we had played them before and beat them," catcher Maggie Quirk of Hinsdale said.

The coaches warned the players to expect more from Kaneland in the second match-up.

"They did come out a lot stronger than the original game. We hit them back hard," said Maggie, who will be a seventh-grader at Hinsdale Middle School this year.

The game was close at first, said sixth-grader Lexi Nezgoda of Westmont, who pitches and plays second base.

"I just felt so much tension. I was so excited," she said. "There were a lot of really good plays and it was so exciting. We were all hyped up and we were all there for each other."

Campbell Erway of Clarendon Hills, who also pitches and plays second base, said the team definitely felt pressure playing for the state title.

"We tried to forget about it and just play as if it was a normal game," said Erway, a rising sixth-grader at Clarendon Hills Middle School. "It was really fun and exciting and kind of nerve-wracking, but we kind of forgot about it once we started. Once you see your team, you kind of forget about the nerves and have fun."

Coach Mike Nezgoda said he and coach Rikka Erway worked well together preparing the girls for the tournament.

"She is so positive and my daughter adores her," he said of Erway. "She's a fantastic coach and I think the two of us working together and having very similar coaching styles was a good mix. I brought in some of the more strategic plays and coaching style to make sure the team would be successful."

Erway said she tries to keep the girls focused on the next play, especially when something goes wrong.

"I try to reinforce to them that if a mistake happens, you have to have that goldfish-like memory and just move on," she said. "It's always focusing on making the next play, getting the next out, and then you'll win the game."

Many of the girls had played together in Lady Devils softball, but there were a few new girls who joined the All-Star team. They gelled immediately with their teammates, Nezgoda said, and everyone played at a higher level, with more aggressive swinging and base running.

"They pulled through, the entire team," he said. "Everyone did what they were asked to do."

Erway agreed.

"They absolutely rose to the occasion," she said. "I never heard them be so loud from the dugout in terms of cheering each other on.

"It was a great atmosphere - positive energy the whole time," she added. "Everybody contributed on every play. It was great."

Knowing the 12U Clarendon Hills Little League state champion All-Stars team was competing in the regional tournament made his team's victory even more thrilling, Nezgoda said.

"The day was surreal," he said. "To win that state championship and then to come home and turn on the television to ESPN and watch the 12U girls playing - it was mindblowing. It was just such an amazing day."

HLL team continues on path toward Pennsylvania

The Hinsdale Little League state champion 12U District team beat Kentucky 3-2 in extra innings Monday night in the Great Lakes Regional Tournament in Whitestown, Ind.. Hinsdale tied the game up in the bottom of the sixth to force extra innings before scoring the walk-off run in the bottom of the seventh.

Hinsdale played Indiana for the Great Lakes Region championship title at 6 p.m. Wednesday, after The Hinsdalean went to press. The winner of that game will compete in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

Keep reading for more information about this team's amazing season.

Author Bio

Pamela Lannom is editor of The Hinsdalean

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