BricksCenter
DaDaDa DaDaDa
May 19, 2019
21 Sports ... 1 Team ... WE ARE HOBART!
Right now ... it's probably BEST if we check out this week's edition of BricksCenter!
Girls Tennis
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS my friends ... and by that I mean the 2019 IHSAA Girls Tennis SECTIONAL CHAMPIONS!!
... and WE'LL KEEP ON FIGHTING 'TIL THE END! The Lady Brickies FOUGHT HARD for this one - their 2nd title in a row and 7th in the last 11 years!
Here's the recap:
Wednesday - 1st round vs. Merrillville
On April 17th, the Merrillville Lady Pirates came to town and handed Hobart a 4-1 loss. As they exited the tennis pavilion, the phrase, "Can you say sectional champs?" was voiced under their breath knowing that Hobart would be their primary competition. A certain athletic director heard them say it and shared it with Coach Davis. Can you say "Bulletin Board material"? I can ... BULLETIN BOARD MATERIAL!
Hobart was PUMPED and took the fight to the Lady Pirates right from the start! #3 Singles freshman Emma Novak and the #2 doubles team of senior Amanda Cicillian and sophomore Giovanna Esquivel each won, meaning the Lady Brickies only needed one more win to earn the victory and obtain their REVENGE! In the MATCH OF THE NIGHT, the #1 doubles team of sophomores Ruthie Sutliff and Katrina Hansen SEALED THE DEAL with a THRILLING 7-6 (14-12), 7-6 (7-3) WIN to give Hobart the 1st round upset!! Sophomore Lauren Cicillian added insult to injury for the Lady Pirates by winning a FANTASTIC match at #2 singles to make the final tally 4-1!
Thursday's scheduled matches were rained out ... so play resumed on Friday night!
Friday - Semi-finals vs. North Newton
On paper, this one looked like it would be close, but the Lady Brickies were STRAIGHT BUTTER as they ROLLED over the Lady Spartans 4-1 earning 2-set victories at all but #2 doubles. Sophomore Lauren Cicillian battled but lost a hard fought match to North Newton's UNDEFEATED #2 singles player.
Friday - 'SHIP vs. Andrean
On May 9th, Hobart hosted the Fightin' 59ers for Senior Night and won a close one 3-2. Would the rematch be any different? NOPE! #1 singles sophomore Addison Kasch was just that ... CASH as she played phenomenal all night and deposited a 6-1, 6-0 W to get things going. #3 singles freshman Emma Novak was next as she DISMANTLED the Andrean player 6-1, 6-1 to put Hobart on the brink of another title. The deciding match was played at #2 doubles ... and OUR GIRLS DID SHINE! Senior Amanda Cicillian was simply ON FIRE with her play and her emotion ... wearing her heart on her sleeve as she fist pumped point after point and her partner, sophomore Giovanna Esquivel, was as cool as the other side of the pillow with her consistency as the Lady Brickies put the nail in the coffin with the hard-earned 6-3, 6-4 win to give Hobart the TITLE! IT WAS AWESOME!!
The Lady Brickies play in the REGIONAL at Highland HS next week ... LET"S GO!
#NOTIMEFORLOSERS
Track & Field
Post-season excitement was in the air as this was SECTIONAL WEEK for both the boys and girls. In order to advance to the REGIONAL in track & field, individuals or relays must place in the top 3 places at the sectional OR be one of the next 4 fastest times/marks of all sectionals entering the regional. Competing in the toughest sectional in the 219, the Brickies were FANTASTIC and are sending a strong contingent to next week's REGIONAL!
On Tuesday at Lowell High School, the Lady Brickies finished 5th overall out of 11 schools and will be sending 5 INDIVIDUALS and ALL 3 RELAYS to the Portage Regional on Tuesday! Junior Addison Metts was OUTSTANDING as she qualified in BOTH the 100 and 300 hurdles along with running a leg on the 1600m relay team! Senior Elena Polizotto placed 2nd in the pole vault and is a regional qualifier for the 3rd consecutive year!! Freshman Dominique Clemons got in on the action as well with a LIFETIME BEST performance of 1:00.07 in the 400m dash, which was good enough for 2nd place! Freshman teammate Sydney Belk also ran a LIFETIME BEST, dropping 9 SECONDS in the 3200m run to qualify for next week's regional. Senior Olexia Brookshire will make her 4th consecutive REGIONAL appearance in the 100m dash hoping to repeat her sophomore year mojo and qualify for the state finals again.
The relays that qualified are listed below:
3200m Relay - freshman Sydney Belk, sophomore Lillian Butler and juniors Lauren Romeo and Abby Haluska
400m Relay - freshman Ja'Diah Belk, sophomore Anisha Lewis and seniors Alanna Roggenkamp and Olexia Brookshire
1600m Relay - senior Olexia Brookshire, junior Addison Metts, sophomore Anisha Lewis, freshman Dominique Clemons
*Olexia and Addison both ran on Hobart's SCHOOL RECORD setting team in 2017 that placed 15th in the state ... could lightning strike twice?
Boys
On Thursday at Crown Point High School, the Brickies placed 6th out of 10 schools competing and are also sending 5 INDIVIDUALS and 2 RELAYS to the Valparaiso Regional on Thursday! Senior Devante Clemons was FLYING in the 400m dash to place 3rd in a LIFETIME BEST performance of 49.62 seconds! Sophomore Bruce Leipart qualified in the 1600m run with a LIFETIME BEST time of 4:42.55! Fellow sophomore Riley Johnston successfully defended his sectional title from a year ago in the pole vault to WIN AGAIN with a vault of 15'0"! In the high jump, the Brickies are sending 2 to the regional with senior Zach Romano clearing 6'0" and sophomore teammate Zach Vode finishing 2nd with a jump of 6'3"!!
The relays that qualified are listed below:
3200m Relay - senior Lucas VanWijngaarden, sophomore Julian Ruiz and juniors Bryan Cherry and Tyler Davis
1600m Relay - junior Matt Hylek, senior Devante Clemons and sophomores Bruce Leipart and Julian Ruiz
GOOD LUCK AT REGIONALS! NEXT STOP = BLOOMINGTON!
#RUNNINDOWNADREAM
Softball
The last 2 weeks have arguably been the toughest stretch of the season for the Lady Brickies ... 6 conference games in 9 days thanks to rescheduled after rescheduled contests ... and finishing it all off against #10-ranked Valparaiso. Offense has been a struggle at times for Hobart this spring, but our ladies have continued to STAY THE COURSE and are competing with EVERYTHING they have night in and night out ... hopefully preparing for our best performance when our best is needed at the SECTIONAL!
Tuesday, Hobart visited Andrean for our last Northwest Crossroads Conference game of the spring. Early on, it appeared that the Lady Brickie offense had returned as Hobart scored 1 in the top of the 1st! Andrean matched it with one of their own in the bottom half of the inning and the two teams stayed locked in a 1-1 tie midway through the 3rd. Andrean broke it open with 2 more runs to take a 3-1 lead. After trading 0's in the 4th, Hobart grabbed the momentum with a run in the 5th to cut it to 3-2, but Andrean answered with 2 more to extend their lead to 5-2 and would go on to win by a 9-2 final in a game that was much more competitive than the scoreboard showed.
Friday ... thanks to more raindrops than sunshine making Hobart's fields unplayable, the Lady Brickies moved the venue and played Valparaiso at Dowling Park, home of the Purdue Northwest Pride, on their artificial turf! On a cold night in Hammond, it was the Lady Vikings who heated things up and jumped out to an early 6-0 lead after 1 inning and never looked back. The Brickies were able to put runners on and score, but it wasn't enough and Valparaiso handed Hobart a loss in the regular season finale.
The regular season may be over, but the Lady Brickies still have some more WORK WORK WORK to do with SECTIONAL play beginning Monday over at Chesterton High School. Hobart drew Michigan City in the bye and will play Tuesday at 6:30pm for a chance to advance to the 'SHIP!
We .... We Believe ... We Believe That ... We Believe That We Will Win!!!
#GOFORIT
IHSAA Class 4A Softball Sectional Bracket
Baseball
On Monday, Hobart welcomed Michigan City to town ... it just wasn't a warm welcome as the Brickies sent the Wolves back to their den with their tail between their legs after a 5-2 Hobart WIN! Junior Matthew Benton was a one-man wrecking crew against 'City as he went 3-for-4 at the plate with 2 doubles, 3 runs scored and an RBI. He also pitched 7 STRONG innings, allowed 6 hits, 2 runs and collected 7 strike outs! Junior teammate Tyler Schultz backed up his classmate going 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs.
Tuesday, the Brickies traveled to 5959 Broadway to square off with the Class 3A #1-ranked Andrean 59ers. In their 1st meeting this spring, Andrean jumped out 6-0 in the 1st, and then the teams tied 3-3 over the rest of the game as Hobart lost 9-3. This time, the Brickies drew "1st blood" with 2 runs in the top half of the 1st. Andrean matched them with 2 of their own in the bottom half and it was ON! The Brickies and '59ers went back and forth for the 1st 3 innings ... Hobart scored 2, Andrean scored 2 ... Hobart scored 2 more, so did Andrean ... and when the Brickies added another in the 3rd, the 59ers did too!! After 3 innings, this was a heck of a ballgame with the score tied at 5-5. Unfortunately, that's when Andrean made their move and Hobart was unable to keep up with that pace the rest of the way ... the final score was 15-5 Andrean. Junior Tyler Schultz led Hobart at the plate going 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs. Senior Ryan Earp, freshman Ivan Balboa and juniors Jack Huber and Brandon Marciniak all had hits for Hobart in the loss.
Friday night, Hobart drove west on US 30 to St. John to face Lake Central, the #3-ranked team in the area. The Brickies got on the board early with 2 runs in the top of the 1st ... only to give up 3 to the Indians in the bottom half of the frame. Over the next 5 innings, that's where the score remained, 3-2 in favor of LC, as junior Tyler Schultz matched LC's #1 pitcher in a MARVELOUS duel on the mound. In the top of the 7th, Hobart scored to tie the game at 3, but couldn't hold on as Lake Central plated the game-winner in the bottom half and defeated the Brickies in a GREAT game 4-3.
On Saturday morning, the Brickies closed out a busy week with a morning contest against the Morton Governors. After an inning of zero's for both teams, Hobart got on the board with 2 runs in the bottom of the 2nd. Then added another in the 3rd to make it 3-0 with only 1 out. That's when senior Ryan Earp stepped to the plate. With 2 men on base, Ryan LAUNCHED one towards Ridge Road ... in fact, I think Coach Glover sent the PLTW weather balloon chase team to see where it landed! The 3-run HOMER by Earp put the Brickies up 6-0 and essentially iced the game. Sophomore Matthew Benton was MASTERFUL on the mound, surrendering only 2 runs through 6 innings and striking out 8 Governors! Junior Austin Kunkle came on in the 7th and struck out the side to end the game as Hobart WON 9-2!
Hobart is currently 13-12 with one game to play ... Monday at home vs. Marquette Catholic. Sectional play begins FRIDAY for the Brickies as they face #10-ranked Portage in the bye. LET'S GO!
#GOTHEDISTANCE
IHSAA Class 4A Baseball Sectional Bracket
Unified Track & Field
The shear amount of improvement from the beginning to the end shows what a FANTASTIC VOYAGE these kids and coaches have been on. After all, SUCCESS IS A JOURNEY, NOT A DESTINATION ... and it appears these student-athletes are destined for SUCCESS!
Here are some results from Saturday:
400m Relay - sophomore Aaron Bell, freshman Gabriel Coleman, freshman Chris Trezak and sophomore Jacob Yardley ... improvement of over 1 second!
100m Dash - junior Ethanne Geulen ... improvement of over 5 seconds!
400m Dash - junior Chet Wagner ... improvement of over 16 seconds and 1st place in his section!
Long Jump - sophomore Domenic Stengal ... improvement of over 2 feet!!
Shot Put - freshman Ammen Hicks-Jones ... improvement of over 1 foot!, freshman Michael Ramirez ... improvement of 3 feet!
Looking at these results, I'd say year 2 of Unified Track & Field was a HUGE SUCCESS! THANK YOU to our coaches, athletes and partners for giving of your time, effort and self to represent Hobart with such PRIDE!
CONGRATULATIONS to all of our athletes and partners - WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU!!
#ONETEAM
Boys Golf
Unfortunately, no results from Lake Central were available in time to make this week's edition.
Hobart travels to Wicker Park on Tuesday for the NCC Championship and hosts Wheeler on Thursday at River Pointe for SENIOR NIGHT this week.
#BETHEBALL
College Signing
Congratulations also goes out to senior Wyatt Decanter on his signing day! Wyatt ... a 3-sport standout in H-town ... has decided to continue his education and SWIMMING career at the University of Indianapolis! The Greyhounds compete at the NCAA Division 2 level and are members of the GLVC (Great Lakes Valley Conference).
Great job Merqurie and Wyatt! GOOD LUCK!
#NEXTLEVEL
FUNdraiser a success
Stay on the look out for more to come ... combining fundraising with food is a combination we could get used to!!
#ALLMYLIFE
STATE CHAMPION
#FAMILYTRADITION
#BRICKIEPRIDE
Sports Schedule This Week
Baseball vs. Marquette Catholic
Spring Sports Awards
Tuesday
Softball vs. Michigan City @ IHSAA Sectional (Chesterton HS)
Girls Track & Field @ IHSAA Regional (Portage HS)
Boys Golf @ NCC Championships (Sandy Pines in DeMotte)
Wednesday
No Events Scheduled
Thursday
Boys Golf vs. Wheeler (Senior Night)
Boys Track & Field @ IHSAA Regional (Valparaiso HS)
Softball @ IHSAA Sectional
Friday
Baseball vs. Portage @ IHSAA Sectional (Crown Point HS)
Saturday
* = NCC Opponent