Illinois High School Association Executive Director Marty Hickman attended both the Class A and AA tournaments in checking out the EastSide Centre complex. EastSide is bidding to retain the two events with competition from Normal, Mattoon and Champaign.
The EastSide grounds crew had the main softball diamonds in prime shape despite a rainstorm that forced a 3-hour-20-minute delay in Saturday’s semifinals.
Qualifying round
Oak Park handled Lake Park 4-1 in the first semifinal as Kealan Waldron went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and junior Holly Roadruck shut out the Lancers until the seventh inning. The Huskies, who lost to Lake Park in the 2003 semifinals, scored once each in the fourth and fifth and twice in the sixth.
In the second semifinal Moline cruised to a 5-0 victory over Barrington. But because of the lengthy rain delay, the Maroons had only 90 minutes to rest before the title game.
Consolation
Lindsay Randall stole third with one out in the bottom of the sixth, and when the catcher’s throw sailed into left field, Randall came home with the winning run in Barrington’s 2-1 victory over Lake Park (35-7) in the third-place game. Barrington finished 33-8.
