BricksCenter
DaDaDa DaDaDa
May 7, 2023
#23sports1team
wait a minute, we are way past halfway there - in fact, we are hitting the home stretch of the spring sports season! The IHSAA Sectional for girls tennis and our Brickie track & field teams is just over a week away ... baseball, softball and Unified Track take place the following week ... and Boys Golf the week after that! It's an EXCITING TIME to be a Brickie sports fan - GOOD LUCK to all of our student athletes as they FINISH STRONG!!
No Livin' On A Prayer here in Hobart ... it's time for BricksCenter!
Boys Golf
Monday, Hobart was scheduled to host the Lowell Red Devils in NCC action, but cold temperatures and a rainy day forced a postponement. This one will be played on Wednesday, May 10th at River Pointe Country Club.
On Tuesday, the Bricks hosted Wheeler in match-play. The match-play was set up so each Brickie would individually face each Bearcat. Whoever completed a hole in the least amount of strokes would "win it", and whoever won the most holes would win each match! Hobart won 3 out of 5 matches and secured the 3-2 VICTORY!!! Juniors Ben Eberle & Nate Becerra, along with senior Trevor Triana, were the victors for the Brickies!!
Thursday, a trip to Scherwood Golf Course in Schererville was on the schedule as our boys squared off with the Griffith Panthers. On a B-E-A-UTIFUL afternoon, the Brickies WON their 3rd match IN A ROW!! Eberle was once again the top brick with a 45 ... classmate Parker Glass was next into the clubhouse with a 48 ... Becerra fired a 51 and junior Tommy Snemis rounded out the Hobart varsity squad with a 54. Final score: Hobart 198, Griffith 220
The NCC CHAMPIONSHIP is just over 2 weeks away and the Brickies are gearing up! This upcoming week looks a lot warmer than the last as our boys yell "FOOORRRREE" ... as in they will compete in FOUR events over the next 6 days! Eberle, Glass & Becerra continue to lead the charge as Hobart looks to make a late push to challenge for course supremacy!! Hit 'em long & straight boys ... and try to avoid the snowmen!!
#NANANANANANANA
THANK YOU to Sherri Eberle for all the GREAT PICS!
Girls Tennis
On Monday night, Hobart was scheduled to host Whiting, but crazy cold temps and wet court conditions caused a postponement to Wednesday.
Tuesday, the Brickies welcomed Griffith to The Friendly City for SENIOR NIGHT! With seniors Maddy Baltrushaitis (#1 singles) and Grace Hansen (#1 doubles) in the lineup, Hobart caged up the Panthers quickly and WON an easy 5-0 match!! In fact, the Brickies were SO GOOD on Tuesday ... how good were they? ... our girls didn't even lose a point the entire match!!! WOW!! A PERFECT way to celebrate two OUTSTANDING young ladies on their special night!
On Wednesday, Whiting visited town for the makeup date from Monday. The Oilers brought a competitive group to The Friendly City, but our Bricks formed a wall and held their ground! Baltrushaitis held court at #2 singles, sophomore Gracie Krejci defeated her counterpart at #3 singles to get Hobart within 1 game of earning their 2nd W of the week, and the #1 dubs duo of Hansen and junior Madalyn Riggle persevered 6-4, 6-6 (7-3) a 2nd set tie-breaker to DELIVER A BRICKIE VICTORY!!! What a match!!
Thursday, Hobart was back in NCC play with a home match against arch rival Andrean! On an absolutely perfect night for some high school tennis, both squads went back & forth (just like the tennis balls) in an extremely competitive match!! Ultimately, Andrean won at all 5 spots, but each was closely contested making the final 5-0 score deceptive as this one was much closer than that. It was a tough loss for the Bricks, but also an opportunity to see what improvements are needed with one week left in the regular season. You see ... the 59ers are not only a rival in the Northwest Crossroads Conference, but also compete in Sectional 55, which is held right here at HHS. These two teams may see each other again in two weeks.
LET'S GO LADIES!!!
Hobart is now 4-10 overall and still 1-4 in NCC action! The regular season wraps up this week with matches on Monday & Wednesday!
#LOVETOSERVE
Track & Field
With just 1 week remaining before the NCC Championship Meet at Lowell and 2 weeks before the IHSAA State Tournament Series begins, the Brickies were hoping to close out the final regular season meet on a high note!
Tuesday night, Hobart headed to DeMotte to take on the Kankakee Valley Kougars and Lowell Red Devils in a double-dual to finish out the conference regular season. It was chilly down by the Kankakee River, but that didn't stop our Brickies from SHINING BRIGHT!! For the girls, junior Cailey Weber (100 + 300m hurdles), freshman Cassie Cohen (1600 + 3200m run) and classmate Aalliah Otero (100 + 400m dash) all won two individual events ... senior Daeges Morgan (high jump) and sophomore Taylor Pope (discus) each took 1st in one event ... and Hobart 1600m Relay team consisting of Otero, Weber, senior Sarah Romeo, and junior Elisia Otero closed out competition with a victory to help our girls earn a split for the night with a 95-36 VICTORY over Lowell and a close 71-61 setback against the host Kougars.
On the boys side, the Brickies got individual W's from junior Johnny Sorensen (100m dash), sophomore Willie Shearer (400m dash), senior Cody Johnston (pole vault) and senior Gavin Miller (long jump) and sprinkled in depth scoring in EVERY event on their way to a DOUBLE VICTORY!!! Hobart beat Lowell 72-56 and handed KV a 70-62 defeat to stay UNDEFEATED in Northwest Crossroads Conference action!! WOW!!
Here are some results from Tuesday:
Girls
100m Hurdles - junior Cailey Weber - 1st, senior Haylie Skripac - 2nd
100m Dash - freshman Aalliah Otero - 3rd, junior Elisia Otero - 5th
1600m Run - freshman Cassie Cohen - 1st, junior Ella Hornak - 5th
400m Dash - A.Otero - 1st, sophomore Olivia Alexander - 8th
300m Hurdles - Weber - 1st, Skripac - 2nd
800m Run - freshman Audrey Turley - 3rd, freshman Joanna Cantu - 6th
200m Dash - A.Otero - 2nd, E.Otero - 4th, junior Alyssa Adams - 7th
3200m Run - Cohen - 1st, freshman Emilia Massey - 3rd
1600m Relay - A.Otero, E.Otero, Weber & senior Sarah Romeo - 1st
Long Jump - Skripac - 4th, sophomore Brooke Cawthon - 5th
High Jump - senior Daeges Morgan - 1st, junior Ella Freimuth - 3rd
Pole Vault - Skripac - 6th
Shot Put - sophomore Taylor Pope - 2nd, freshman Breanna Zon - 4th
Discus - Pope - 1st, Zon - 2nd
Boys
110m Hurdles - junior Anthony Hnilo - 4th, junior Cirian Spencer - 5th
100m Dash - junior Johnny Sorensen - 1st, senior Vonzel Strayhorne - 3rd
1600m Run - sophomore Kolin Gladney - 4th, junior Owen Stankich - 5th
400m Dash - sophomore Willie Shearer - 1st, junior Carson Bell - 3rd
300m Hurdles - junior Thomas Martin - 4th, Spencer - 5th
800m Run - junior Jacob Ramirez - 5th
200m Dash - Sorensen - 2nd, Shearer - 3rd
3200m Run - sophomore Felix Lopez - 2nd, Stankich - 5th
1600m Relay - Bell, Shearer, Sorensen & junior Ryan Mattel - 1st
Long Jump - senior Gavin Miller-Lane - 1st, sophomore Kael Schlosser - 3rd
High Jump - Hnilo - 2nd, senior Kyle Tolliver - 4th
Pole Vault - senior Cody Johnston - 1st
Shot Put - senior Diego Verduzco - 2nd, sophomore Patrick O'Connor - 6th
Discus - senior Grant Kappes - 3rd, Verduzco - 4th
The girls are now 3-2 in NCC competition and our boys are 4-0-1 heading into Tuesday's NCC CHAMPIONSHIP MEET at Lowell High School. If you don't have plans on Tuesday night, you might venture down I-65 to The Inferno and cheer on the Brickies as our girls look to finish strong and our boys chase their first NCC title since 2017!! GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!
#PRIDEANDTRADITION
THANK YOU to Mackie Stankich for so many AWESOME PHOTOS!
Softball
On Monday, the Brickies were scheduled to finish a game from April 14th at Andrean that was suspended due to darkness with the score tied at 4-4 entering the top half of the 8th inning. Consistent rain throughout the day and cold temps forced another suspension of this one ... to be concluded on Thursday.
Tuesday night, Hobart headed over to Highland to play under the lights! The Brickies got on the board first with 2 opening innings runs and then added 2 more in the 3rd for a 4-0 advantage! Highland charged back with 5 runs of their own in the 4th inning to make it 5-4 Trojans. Hobart retook the lead in the 5th at 6-5, but AGAIN Highland charged back ... this time with 4 runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 9-6 lead. Our girls BATTLED and had chances - scoring another run in the 6th, but ultimately came up a little short and lost a tough one on the road 9-7. Junior Keirys Click had 2 hits and sophomore Emili Knestrict matched her with 2 ... one of which sailed over the fence for a HOMERUN ... in the loss.
On Thursday, the Brickies welcomed the Andrean 59ers to The Friendly City for what turned out to be a double-header. First, the game suspended by darkness on 4/14 ... and then again postponed on 5/1 ... needed to be completed, starting in the top half of the 8th inning and Hobart at bat. Senior Alyssa Janik blasted the first pitch into the gap for a double, but the Bricks couldn't get her across home plate. Andrean threatened in the 8th as well, but junior pitcher Morgan Ellenberger shut 'em down by striking out 2 of the 3 batters. No one scored in the 9th inning, so play continued into the 10th! Once again, Janik stepped into the batters box and LAUNCHED a SHOT over the fence for a solo HOMERUN to give our girls a 5-4 lead!!! Andrean was unable to score in the bottom half of the inning, which meant BRICKIES WIN!!!
For the game, Janik had 3 hits and sophomore Ladan Weinman added 2 RBI ... Ellenberger had 7 strikeouts and BROKE THE SCHOOL RECORD for strikeouts in a single season!! AWESOME!!
After a 10-minute intermission, Hobart and Andrean continued play with the start of the 2nd game. This one picked up right where the last one left off ... each team notching a first inning run and a tied score! Unfortunately, things weren't as much fun after the opening inning as the 59ers got hot at the plate, scored 8 more runs over the next 4 innings and left town with a split ... losing the first game 5-4, but winning the second one 9-1. Click, Janik and junior Marissa Spicer were the only Brickies to register a hit in the loss.
Hobart is now 13-7 on the year and an even 4-4 in NCC play. Two HUGE games start the week for the Brickies ... at Munster and a home date against Lowell ... before heading to Illiana Christian to close out the week. GOOD LUCK LADIES!!!
#BATTERUP
THANK YOU to our Softball Boosters for sharing these Pics!
SHOUT OUT to Brickie pitcher Morgan Ellenberger for breaking the SCHOOL RECORD for strikeouts in a season!
Unified Track & Field
The Hobart Unified Track & Field team got a double dip this past week with meets on both Thursday night & Saturday morning!
Saturday morning, Hobart was @ Griffith to compete against the host Panthers and the East Chicago Central Cardinals! After dodging some light raindrops during the field events, our Brickies TOOK OFF during the running portion of the meet and were FANTASTIC!! No results were available, but our kids did a GREAT JOB!!
Hobart has 1 regular season meet remaining ... at Griffith again on Thursday, before the IHSAA Sectional takes place at Valparaiso High School on Saturday, 5/20. These Brickies have had an absolutely AWESOME spring season so far ... CAN'T WAIT to see what they do in the post season!!!
#CHAMPIONSTOGETHER
THANK YOU to Ms Krolak & Savannah for coming out to cheer and take some awesome photos!
Boys Volleyball
On Monday night, Hobart hosted Illiana Christian, one of the top teams in NWI with a record of 22-8. Early on, it seemed that some nerves got the best of the Brickies considering it was the last home game of the season ... and Illiana cruised in the first set 25-8. Hobart bounced back in the 2nd and 3rd sets to score 16 & 15 points, but ultimately lost 3-0 to the talented Vikings.
Wednesday, Kankakee Valley was the destination for the season finale. Back on April 14th, Hobart hosted KV and lost 3-0 while totaling 42 points over the course of 3 sets. Remember what I said earlier about closing out the season on a positive note? Well, three weeks later, our boys scored 47 points over the course of 3 sets against those same Kougars ... which shows that the Bricks have WORK WORK WORKed HARD and IMPROVED!
No question about it, the first ever boys volleyball team here at Hobart represented this small blue-collar town with pride. It was a bumped first go-around for the Bricks and lessons were learned about facing adversity & persevering, but those lessons will help our boys down the road. In the end, 15 student athletes ... who previously did not play a spring sport ... had an opportunity to compete in something fun and make a little history along the way.
THANK YOU to Coaches Madi Price & Missy Nelson and to all of our boys - particularly seniors Colton Charo & Jose Torres - for a GREAT SEASON!!
#NUTHINBUTNET
Baseball
On Monday, Hobart was scheduled to travel to Andrean for an NCC showdown with the conference front-runner 59ers. Unfortunately, rain throughout the day and colder than normal temperatures forced a postponement. This game has been rescheduled for Wednesday, 5/10.
Tuesday, light rain and cold temps continued, but the Hobart field was playable and our boys got to swing the bats against the Class 3A #2-ranked 59ers. Andrean got out to an early 4-0 lead, but the Brickies hung in there ... scored 2 runs and had the bases loaded in the bottom half of the 7th with a chance to get tied back up!! Unfortunately, the right hit at the right time didn't happen for our boys and the 59ers won a game that was even closer than the 5-2 final score.
Over the weekend, the Brickies traveled to The Hub City of Lake County, Crown Point, to play in the inaugural Crown Point Varsity Baseball Invitational. It was a stacked field of teams with Mishawaka (ranked #29 in Indiana with a record of 15-1), our Brickies (record of 10-7), and the always dangerous Munster Mustangs & host Bulldogs (2022 IHSAA Sectional Champions). in the semifinal games, Hobart faced Crown Point in a rematch of the 2022 IHSAA Sectional finals while the Mustangs squared off with the Cavemen from Mishawaka.
The 'Dogs looked impressive in the opener and defeated the Brickies. In the 2nd game, Mishawaka advanced to the title game with a close win over Munster ... which meant that our boys would face NCC rival Munster ... the 3rd time these two teams have faced each other this year.
I don't know if the horses were motivated by the Kentucky Derby taking place this weekend or what, but the Mustangs flew out of the gate and never looked back in the consolation game against the Bricks. Final score: Munster 18, Hobart 3.
Last week, Hobart won 3 games ... this week, Hobart suffered 3 defeats, which is how baseball can be sometimes. Undoubtedly, this was the Bricks toughest stretch and even though our boys took a few lumps, it was a learning experience that will help them as we continue to gear up for the post-season.
The Brickies are 10-9 on the year and 2-5 in NCC action. This upcoming week will be a grind as our boys are scheduled to play 5 games in 6 days. LET'S GO BOYS - YOU CAN DO THIS!!!
#FIELDOFDREAMS
Sports Schedule This Week
Baseball vs. Kankakee Valley *
Softball @ Munster (V+JV) *
Girls Tennis @ Michigan City
JV Baseball @ Kankakee Valley *
Tuesday
Girls Track & Field @ NCC CHAMPIONSHIP (Hosted by Lowell High School)
Boys Track & Field @ NCC CHAMPIONSHIP (Hosted by Lowell High School)
Boys Golf vs. Munster *
Baseball @ Kankakee Valley *
JV Baseball vs. Kankakee Valley *
Wednesday
Softball vs. Lowell (V+JV) *
Baseball @ Andrean *
Girls Tennis @ River Forest
Boys Golf vs. Lowell *
Thursday
JV Track & Field @ NCC Meet (Hosted by Hobart High School)
Softball @ Illiana Christian
Unified Track & Field @ Griffith
JV Softball vs. Crown Point
JV Baseball vs. Wheeler
Friday
Baseball vs. Wheeler
JV Baseball vs. Crown Point
Saturday
Baseball vs. Hanover Central
Boys Golf @ KV Invite
* = NCC Opponent