BricksCenter
DaDaDa DaDaDa
May 12, 2019
21 Sports ... 1 Team ... WE ARE HOBART!
More rain tried to keep the Brickies indoors and off the playing fields, but thanks to some hard WORK WORK WORK from our building & grounds crew ... as the band Starship might've said, "Nothin's Gonna Stop Us Now" ... or maybe "We Built This City"? Either way, PLAY BALL!
Hopefully everyone had a very HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
Perfect gift for mom? Flowers? Candy? Clean your room? .... na ... how about this week's edition of BricksCenter!
Track & Field
For the girls, junior Addison Metts showed off her superior athleticism as she earned All-NCC recognition in 4 EVENTS! She finished 2nd in both hurdles races, 3rd in the long jump and ran a leg on the 2nd place 1600m Relay team! Senior Olexia Brookshire was All-NCC in 3 events, which gives her more than 10 All-NCC credits to her name! Freshman Dominique Clemons and sophomore Anisha Lewis have bright futures as they also SHINED for multiple All-NCC awards as well. Senior Elena Polizotto capped a RECORD-BREAKING NCC career with a vault of 11'03" to take 1st place and break her own conference AND school records in the event!!
Here are the girls results from Tuesday:
3200m Relay - junior Hailey Kerlin, freshman Mikayla Fuentes, and sophomores Lily Butler and Ahliyah Villaruel - 5th
100m Hurdles - junior Addison Metts - 2nd (2nd-team All NCC), sophomore Faith Kietzman - 8th
100m Dash - senior Olexia Brookshire - 2nd (2nd-team All NCC), sophomore Anisha Lewis - 5th
1600m Run - freshman Sydney Belk - 6th, junior Hailey Kerlin - 12th
400m Relay - seniors Olexia Brookshire and Alanna Roggenkamp and sophomores Ja'Diah Belk and Anisha Lewis - 2nd (2nd-team All NCC)
400m Dash - freshman Dominique Clemons - 3rd (Honorable Mention All NCC), junior Abby Haluska - 8th
300m Hurdles - junior Addison Metts - 2nd (2nd-team All NCC), senior Alanna Roggenkamp - 8th
800m Run - junior Lauren Romeo - 4th, sophomore Lily Butler - 10th
200m Dash - freshman Ja'Diah Belk - 7th
3200m Run - freshman Sydney Belk - 5th
1600m Relay - senior Olexia Brookshire, junior Addison Metts, sophomore Anisha Lewis and freshman Dominique Clemons - 2nd (2nd-team All NCC)
High Jump - freshman Paige Solivais - 5th
Long Jump - junior Addison Metts - 3rd (Honorable Mention All NCC), sophomore Lexi Williams - 9th
Pole Vault - senior Elena Polizotto - 1st *NEW SCHOOL AND NCC RECORD - 11'03" (1st-team All NCC), freshman Autumn Turley - 3rd (Honorable Mention All NCC)
Shot Put - freshman Shanena Knight - 11th, junior Charity Kirk - 12th
Discus - junior Charity Kirk - 9th, freshman Shanena Knight - 11th
For the boys, senior Devante Clemons closed out his NCC career with 2 All-NCC awards, but it was the SUPER SCINTILLATING SENSATIONAL SOPHOMORES that STOLE the SHOW! Sophomore stud Zach Vode was EVERYWHERE as he earned All-NCC honors in 3 EVENTS ... 2nd place in the long jump, high jump and 1600m Relay! Fellow sophomore Riley Johnston once again proved his DOMINANCE in the pole vault as he set a new PR and NCC RECORD with a vault of 15'07" ... beating the 2nd place finisher by more than 4 FEET!!! WOW!
Here are the boys results from Tuesday:
3200m Relay - senior Lucas VanWijngaarden, freshman Ian Freimuth, sophomore Ben Ward and junior Tyler Davis - 6th
110m Hurdles - sophomore Harley Potter - 7th
100m Dash - senior Wyatt Decanter - 8th
1600m Run - senior Logan Reid - 8th, freshman Joe Meagher - 11th
400m Relay - sophomores Zach Vode, Dylan Wright and Avione Lane, and senior Wyatt Decanter - 5th
400m Dash - senior Devante Clemons - 2nd (2nd-team All NCC), sophomore Julian Ruiz - 6th
300m Hurdles - sophomore Harley Potter - 8th
800m Run - sophomore Bruce Leipart - 4th, senior Lucas VanWijngaarden - 11th
1600m Relay - junior Matt Hylek, sophomore Bruce Leipart, and seniors Devante Clemons and Wyatt Decanter - 2nd (2nd-team All NCC)
High Jump - sophomore Zach Vode - 2nd (2nd-team All NCC), senior Zach Romano - 5th
Long Jump - sophomore Zach Vode - 2nd (2nd-team All NCC), senior Wyatt Decanter - 7th
Pole Vault - sophomore Riley Johnston - 1st *NEW NCC RECORD - 15'07" (1st-team All NCC), junior Lance Skog - 3rd (Honorable Mention All NCC)
Shot Put - junior Jacob Gresham - 4th, junior Jay'Juan Rodriguez - 11th
Discus - senior Max Salazar - 6th, junior Jay'Juan Rodriguez - 8th
The IHSAA State Tournament Series begins next week with the SECTIONAL @ Lowell on Tuesday for the girls and the boys heading to Crown Point on Thursday.
#DADOORUNRUNRUNDADOORUNRUN
Girls Tennis
Monday was rained out over at Michigan City, so the Lady Brickies first contest of the week was Wednesday over at neighborhood rival River Forest. Well, it really wasn't much of a contest as Hobart DOMINATED the Ingots to the tune of 5-LOVE as both the varsity and JV girls swept all matches! Fun fact - junior Samaria Jones won her first match ever with a score of 8-6 playing JV singles!
Thursday, it was SENIOR NIGHT and a HUGE conference match against potential sectional foe Andrean. In a back-and-forth match throughout, Hobart WORK WORK WORKED and came away with the 3-2 'W'! Sophomore Addison Kasch won at #1 singles, freshman Emma Novak won at #3 singles and the clinching victory came from the #2 doubles team of sophomore Giovanna Esquivel and SENIOR AMANDA CICILLIAN! 1-9, 1-9, 1-1-1-1-1-9!!! BOOYAH!
On Saturday, the Lady Brickies traveled back to New Prairie to finish what they started a few weeks back when the Invite was postponed midway through due to rain. The extra trip was definitely worth it as freshman Emma Novak WON the New Prarie 8 team invite at # 3 Singles and sophomore Addison Kasch finished a strong 2nd at #1 Singles! As a team, Hobart finished 4th overall out the 8-team field. GREAT JOB LADIES!
Hobart has 1 remaining regular season match on Monday vs. Marquette Catholic and then the Lady Brickies host the IHSAA Sectional starting Wednesday! LET'S GO!!!
#GIRLPOWER
Softball
Monday, Hobart traveled to Munster for a 2nd chance at the Lady Mustangs, who owned the Lady Brickies the first time around 12-1. Munster jumped out to an early 6-0 lead with 4 1st inning runs and 2 more in the 2nd. Hobart fought back with 2 in the top half of the 3rd on sophomore Saylem Smith's RBI double to cut the deficit down to 6-2! The Lady Brickies appeared to have some momentum after blanking the Mustangs in the bottom of the 3rd, but unfortunately that's as close as Hobart would get as Munster tacked on 3 more insurance runs the rest of the way for a 9-2 victory. Sophomores Saylem Smith and Gracie Rivera ... along with junior Lauren Bernhardt ... notched 2 hits a piece on the night.
On Tuesday, the Lady Brickies were again headed west on Ridge Road ... this time to square off against Highland. Hobart got on the board with 1 run in the top of the 1st, only to see Highland score 2 in the bottom half to take the lead. Over the next 3 innings, neither team could get much going and the score remained 2-1 in favor of Highland heading into the 5th. With the result hanging in the balance, the Lady Brickies kept putting runners on base, but just couldn't get the timely hit they needed to seize control. Eventually, the Lady Trojans put 2 more across home plate and scored another in the 6th to defeat Hobart 5-1.
Wednesday, it was SENIOR NIGHT for Hobart as seniors Aubrey Butterfield and Joelee Skimehorn were honored prior to the opening pitch! This was the 1st meeting of the spring between the Lady Brickies and arch rival Lowell. The Red Devils came in with a senior-laden group that had experience and put 2 on the board early with a 1st inning homerun. Hobart answered in the bottom half of the 1st when junior Abby Grusak singled, stole 2nd and then sophomore Saylem Smith belted her 5th HOMERUN of the season to tie it a 2!! Lowell scored 2 more in the 3rd and led 4-2 heading into the top half of the 5th. In a game that was HARD FOUGHT and CLOSE throughout, the top of the 5th inning got away from Hobart and Lowell plated 5 runs - most of them with 2 outs as the Lady Brickies just couldn't quite get the stop they needed and lost a tough one 10-3. Sophomore's Saylem Smith and Gracie Rivera again did some damage at the plate with 2 hits each for Hobart. Senior Joelee Skimehorn also had a hit and an RBI.
On Friday, it was the Andrean 59ers who came to the friendly city for an NCC showdown. This one was tough as both teams were LOCKED IN on D-D-D-DEFENSE and unable to score through all 7 innings! Stranded in a scoreless tie, it was anyone's ballgame heading into extra innings!! Unfortunately, that's when the 59ers seized control and found 6 runs all of a sudden ... Hobart couldn't respond and lost a heart-breaker 6-0 after the extra frame. After 4 games in 5 days - all in conference play and intense - the Lady Brickies were drained and had no answer when Andrean took the lead after such an amazing 7 innings of play.
It was the best of times ... it was the worst of times ... this week was hard on the Lady Brickies, dropping all 4 games to fall to 7-11 on the year. Still, it was also a learning week for Hobart as they saw plenty of glimpses of greatness sprinkled into each contest. The key will be finding consistency and stringing some of those glimpses together both in the field and at the plate in order to get over the hump. WE CAN DO IT!
IHSAA Sectional play begins in a week over at Chesterton ... Hobart has 3 more games this week to finish the regular season and gear up for some tournament action!
WE ARE ... HO-BART!
#WEBELIEVE
Boys Golf
On Monday @ Lakes of the Four Seasons Golf Course, Hobart played in the Boone Grove Invitational. The Brickies had been hovering above the 200 stroke mark early in the year and had crept below with some consistent improved play prior to the RAIN DELAY last week. Unfortunately, the week off from everything didn't help in this case. With course conditions less than ideal and Hobart missing a few of our regular starters, the team shot a season-high 226. Junior Sabian Lievers was the top golfer for the Brickies with a 49.
On Friday, our boys SHINED at the Ubele Invitational played in LaPorte @ Beechwood Golf Course. Like I said, golf is a funny game and in less than a week, Hobart snapped back into form with a 402 as each player went the distance for all 18 holes (as opposed to the 9 that everyone played at Boone Grove on Monday). The 402 put the Brickies back on the right track with a few weeks left in the season. Hobart finished 19th out of the 25 schools in attendance. Juniors DJ Lipke and Sabian Lievers both stayed under the century mark with a 96 and 97 respectively. Fellow junior teammates Nathan Schammert and Jayden Wible rounded out Hobart's top four.
Hopefully some better weather will help our guys get back out on the course so they can put some WORK WORK WORK in to finish the season strong. The NCC Championship is a little over a week away ... Na Na Na Na Na
#BETHEBALL
Baseball
Monday was SENIOR NIGHT for a quintet of gentlemen - Tyler Anderson, Ryan Earp, Zach Guthrie, Tyler Hunter and Lane Ondo. It was also an NCC match-up against the always scrappy KV Kougars. KV opened up the game scoring a run in each of the 1st 3 innings to capture a 3-1 lead. They then added another in the top of the 7th to go up 4-1 heading into the last half inning for Hobart. The Brickies had not been able to generate much offense throughout the entire game ... we were hitting the ball, it just went where there were Kougar defenders ready to make a play. In the 7th, however, it was GAME ON and Hobart rallied to put runners in position and then scored with only 1 out to cut the deficit to 4-2. It appeared that momentum had SWUNG in the direction of the Brickies as Hobart had hitters in the top of line-up coming to bat with the tying run on 1st and only 1 out. Unfortunately, the timely hit needed never happened and KV hung on to defeat the Brickies 4-2. Juniors Brandon Marciniak, Matthew Benton, Austin Kunkle and sophomore Jaden Deel each registered a hit for Hobart in the contest.
On Tuesday, Hobart headed south on I-65 for a rematch with the Kougars. The offense that eluded the Brickies on Monday night was all of sudden welcomed back as Hobart scored early and often! Two runs in the 1st, three more in the 2nd and another in the 3rd gave Hobart a 6-3 lead ... and just when it looked like KV might creep back into contention, the Brickies put 9 across the plate in the final 3 innings to win BIG 15-8! Sophomore Jaden Deel led Hobart with 4 hits, 3 runs scored and 2 RBIs ... junior Tyler Schultz and freshman Ivan Balboa each notched 3 hits and scored 3 times. Senior Ryan Earp and juniors Matthew Benton & Austin Kunkle all contributed 3 RBIs in the victory! In all, the Brickies POUNDED out 15 hits and drew 11 walks.
Friday night, #1-ranked Crown Point came over for some fun ... and it was really fun for the 1st 4 innings as Hobart matched the state's top-ranked team pitch-for-pitch and hit-for-hit resulting in a 1-1 tie game! It looked as if the Brickies were in position to pull off a major upset against the 20-2 Bulldogs, but CP had other plans. The 'Dogs plated 4 runs in the top half of the 5th frame and never looked back as the Hobart bats went cold. Crown Point added 2 more in the 7th and handed the Brickies a 7-1 defeat. It was a well-played game on both sides ... just not the result we were hoping for.
Bad news? The Brickies made a few costly errors that the Bulldogs took advantage of.
Good news? The errors are things we can control, which means we CAN PLAY WITH ANYONE in the state.
The IHSAA Sectional draw was kind ... Hobart drew the bye and will face the Portage Indians in the semifinals a week from Friday (5/24) over at Crown Point. One win and the Brickies will play for the 'ship! WE ... WE BELIEVE ... WE BELIEVE THAT ... you know the rest :)
#GOFORIT
Unified Track & Field
Everything gets going at 10am next Saturday ... BE THERE!
#ONETEAM
NEED PLANS FOR THE DAY AFTER MOTHER'S DAY DINNER?
Sports Schedule This Week
Girls Tennis vs. Marquette Catholic
Baseball @ Michigan City
Softball @ Lowell *
Boys Golf @ KV *
Portillo's Fundraiser for HHS Athletics (5-8pm)
Tuesday
Softball @ Andrean *
Baseball @ Andrean *
Girls Track & Field @ IHSAA Sectional (Lowell HS)
Wednesday
Girls Tennis @ IHSAA Sectional (Hobart HS)
Thursday
Girls Tennis @ IHSAA Sectional (Hobart HS)
Boys Track & Field @ IHSAA Sectional (Crown Point HS)
Softball vs. Valparaiso
Baseball @ Wheeler
Friday
Baseball @ Lake Central
Saturday
Boys Golf @ Lake Central Invite
Baseball vs. Hammond Morton
* = NCC Opponent