Through the first 12 games, Fenwick`s season was going well. All-Catholic League senior shortstop Al Michalowski was hitting .600 with 11 extra-base hits and four game-winning RBIs. Senior third baseman Mike Shea was hitting .364 with 18 walks. As a pitcher, Shea was 3-0. Then, they both came down with the mumps. Michalowski, who is hospitalized with a severe virus, is out at least two weeks, and Shea will be sidelined at least a week. ”When you completely take the left side of your infield away, and both were having fantastic seasons, well, you bite a couple of nails,” said Friar coach Dave Hogan. Shea was the back-up shortstop, but sophomore Craig Kristufek, who is coming back from a leg injury, will get that job. Third base is being taken over by outfielder Frank Salerno. . . . Wednesday was cold and dreary, too cold and dreary for most teams to play baseball, following the rain and snow of Monday and Tuesday. But it was perfect weather for Zion-Benton senior left- hander Don Enright. Enright handcuffed 12th-ranked Stevenson with a one- hit, nine-strikeout performance in the Zee Bees` 4-0 North Suburban Conference victory. Enright (2-2), who escaped damage after walking the bases loaded with two outs in the fifth, finished his masterpiece by striking out the side in the seventh. Enright also smacked a two-run home run in the first. .. . Oh, the disadvantages of not playing in a conference. Ridgewood coach Tony Pappone had his team all set to play host to Maine South Friday, but the Hawks had to back out to make up a postponed Central Suburban League game. Barring further weather problems, Ridgewood and Maine South will play April 30. ”Of course, they take priority with league games,” said Pappone. ”We`re just lucky we could get it back.”. . . . Providence has escaped unbeaten through its first 11 games, but the Celtics don`t expect to win them all. Beginning April 27, they`ll see some of the Chicago area`s best teams. The seventh-ranked Celtics meet Joliet Catholic in a Sunday double-header; No. 5 Marian Catholic April 28; then, after Private School League games against Illiana Christian April 29-30, they`ll battle No. 9 St. Laurence May 1. Providence gets a day off before a key double-header May 3 with PSL power and 11th-ranked Aurora Central Catholic. The next day, No. 2 St. Rita comes calling for a pair. ”If we survive that week,” said Celtics` coach Jaime Garcia, ”we`ll be a pretty good baseball team.”
Softball
Casey, the Class A state runner-up last year, traveled to the Chicago area last weekend to face Andrew, Lockport and Thornwood, three of the area`s best teams. Casey (9-1) swept a double-header from Andrew Friday night 1-0, 5-1, and split two games Saturday with Lockport, losing 1-0 and winning 4-0 before sweeping Thornwood 5-0 and 9-3. Casey coach Denny Throneburg has seven starters back from last year`s team that lost to Freeburg in the state title game. The only senior last season was catcher Lisa Stephen. ”We`d like to go back,” Throneburg said. ”You`ve got to be lucky, plus good. We feel we`re a well-rounded team.” The games were set up by Thornwood coach Gary Lagesse, whose school was the host for the Saturday double-headers. ”I left it up to Gary to find us some competition and he sure did that,” said Throneburg, who added, laughing, ”the dirty dog.”
Wrestling
The Mid-Suburban League Wrestling Club will play host to a team from London, Ontario in a cultural exchange freestyle dual meet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Buffalo Grove High School. The MSL Club will feature state place- winners John Sehnert of Barrington, Neil Kohlberg of Wheeling, Dave Durlacher of Buffalo Grove, Alex Castajon of Rolling Meadows, Mickey Marchese of Hoffman Estates, Mike Cheatam of Palatine and Carl Presley of Conant. Approximately 25 matches will take place. Tickets are $2 in advance and $3 at the door.
Track and field
Proviso East sprinter Joe Vernell missed the Bloom Invitational Saturday after being benched by coach Chuck Farinella. ”Nothing really serious,” said Farinella, who expects Vernell to be back in action next week. . . . South Shore`s Ken Gaston may be the biggest secret in the Public League. In only his second year in track, Gaston won the 400 meters (50.07 seconds) and the 800
(1:55.96) in the Bloom meet, less than 24 hours after running 800-meter legs of 1:56 and 1:58 and an open 400-meter time of 50.4. South Shore coach Andrew Thomas, a South Shore graduate who qualified for the state meet in 1978, believes a 1:50 is not out of the question ”if we could only get a place where we could train.”. . . East St. Louis coach Gordon Schoby was impressed with his team`s performance in winning the Bloom meet. ”Next to the state meet, this meet was the best for us because we found out if we could compete. We won the state last year but we really didn`t get many points in the relays. This year we`re going to be much better in the state because of our relays.” East St. Louis scored 53 points to win the meet, but had 12 of those in winning the shot and discus with mediocre tosses of 53 feet 11 1/2 inches and 158-1, respectively. . . . Oak Park coach Jerry Slack will retire after this season. Slack, who will be 59 this summer, has been coaching for 36 years, 31 of them at Oak Park. ”I don`t know what I`m going to do,” he said. ”It`s not because I don`t like what I`m doing, I just want to do something different.” . . . Wheeling`s Dana Miroball and Alice Doyle are a versatile pair. Miroballi, the defending Class AA 3,200-meter state champion, won the 800 in 2:20.3 at Saturday`s Glenbard West Invitational, ran a 2:19 anchor leg on the winning 3,200 relay team and a 60.1 third leg on the second-place 1,600 relay. Doyle, who had been running the 800, won the 1,600 in 5:10.6 and the 3,200 in 11:15.8. ”We`ve been switching all around all season,” Miroballi said. ”I`ve even run on the 400 relay. We`re trying all sorts of different things to see what we can do. I still don`t know what I`m going to run Downstate. I like this. If I ran 12 laps (1,600 and 3,200) every meet, it would really get boring.” . . . Doyle`s 3,200 was only her second race at that distance this season. She`ll probably run the 800 and the anchor leg of the 3,200 in state competition. ”I like the two-mile (3,200) relay,” Doyle said. ”It`s whatever Mr. (Mark) Saylor says. He`s the coach and he knows what`s best. Dana and I do a lot of switching and that makes things a lot better. I like the relay. I like to do things for the team. We could have a real good two-mile team with both Dana and me, but the two-mile is right after so that knocks one of us out.” . . . Wheeling didn`t score in the sophomore portion of the Glenbard West meet, but that`s misleading. Freshman Nancy Goldman, who gives Wheeling`s varsity a sprinter to be reckoned with, set meet records in the 100 (12.0) and 200 (25.0), and ran on the winning 400 relay. Classmate Maureen Berquist ran the opening leg of the winning 3,200 relay and a leg on the second place 1,600 relay. Goldman will help Wheeling score points at the state meet, but Saylor is realistic about his chances of beating defending state champion East St. Louis Lincoln. ”I`m flattered when people ask if we have a chance,” he said. ”People who are in the know know they will win it.” Wheeling will get a look at both East St. Louis schools and South Shore in Saturday`s Palatine Relays. . . . Teresa Jones, Thornton`s defending state 400-meter champion, ran a meet record-tying 57.1 at Glenbard West. The record is coheld by Romeoville`s Sametra King, who runs for the University of Texas. Jones, just a junior, has lofty goals. She`d like to cut a full second off her state-winning time of 56.0. ”I`m going to try to get down to 55.0,” she said. ”I should be able to do it. I ran 57.8 indoors.”
Jones ran a 58.1 anchor leg on Thornton`s record-setting 1,600 relay (4:05.8) Saturday.
Water polo
Brother Rice, which trampled Loyola Academy 8-3 to win the Catholic League championship Saturday, appears ready to make a run for its seventh straight title in the upcoming ”state” tournament at the Illinois-Chicago gymnasium May 6-10. The ”state” meet will be conducted in two divisions, with the novice or newer teams bracketed in a separate meet May 1-2 at Hoffman Estates. The four top teams from the novice meet will join 12 teams in the Open Division meet at UIC the following week.
Gymnastics
To hear Addison Trail coach Fred Dennis, one would have thought his team lost Saturday night`s York Invitational. Instead, the Blazers edged Niles North 147-146.8. But then, defending state champion Addison Trail isn`t used to such close results. ”We won, but it was still disappointing,” said Dennis. ”We`ve got to break out of scoring in the 147s and 148s if we intend to get away from the rest of the pack. We can`t sit still.” Niles North gave the Blazers a good fight, a fight Dennis says he`s glad occurred. ”To see a team come that close is a credit to Niles North,” Dennis said. ”The guys were kind of sitting on their laurels a bit, thinking we could just go to state and win it. Hopefully, what happened tonight will shake them up a little bit.” The best an Addison Trail gymnast could do Saturday was third. Dan Dellert finished third in floor exercise (8.9), parallel bars (8.0) and the horizontal bar (9.2). Matt Kukulski was third on pommel horse (8.3). Steve Krause of Rich South won all-around with an 8.81 average. He also finished first on still rings (9.2) and parallel bars (8.7). York`s Neal Gallant won gold medals in floor exercise (9.6), vaulting (9.7) and on the high bar (9.5), while Rolling Meadows` Mark Sohn was the horse (9.3) winner. . . . Conant continued its dominance with an impressive victory in Saturday night`s Mundelein Invitational. The Cougars scored 145.9 to Downers Grove North`s 140 in the 13-team meet. Third-place Homewood-Flossmoor had 134.9. Dave Heltmach of Downers North won all-around with an 8.88 average, and placed first in vaulting (9.3), floor exercise (9.0), horse (9.4) and high bar (8.7). Heltmach tied for first with Conant`s Eric Jones on parallel bars (8.5). Dave Gonzalez of Conant won the rings title (8.9). . . . Homewood-Flossmoor was without its top all-arounder, Dan Oakley, who broke his right arm last month while performing a high bar routine. He may be back in two weeks, but he`ll only be able to vault. ”We lose eight points without him,” said H-F coach Mark Watman. ”We`re trying to pick up the slack with some of our fourth kids on each event.”
