BricksCenter
DaDaDa DaDaDa
April 25, 2021
21 Sports ... 1 Team ... WE ARE HOBART!
I should've been a Brickie!
I should've learned to WORK WORK WORK ...
Wearin' school colors and cheerin' on Hobart on a Friday niiiiiiiggghht
Watchin' the Brickies SHINE!
Just like Kurth and Howell
Singin' that old fight song
Woah, I should've been a Brickie
Just this week ... after a short delay thanks to Mother Nature ... Baseball fought hard through perhaps their toughest stretch of the season, track & field dodged raindrops at LaPorte, Tennis & Golf persevered the snow & cold, the Unified team began their season down in The Hub City, and Softball dialed up a near PERFECT senior night!
Anyone else burstin' with PRIDE right now? WE ARE ... HOBART!!
How do ya like me now ... it's time for BricksCenter!
Girls Tennis
The Lady Brickie "Racketeers" were busy this week with a hat trick of matches beginning Wednesday with some light snow and finishing Friday as the sun peeked through the clouds.
On Wednesday, the Merrillville Lady Pirates came over for some afternoon fun in a potential SECTIONAL PREVIEW. The random snowflakes made this one a little more challenging for both squads, but EVERY TIME these two teams square off, the INTENSITY is REAL! In a BATTLE, Hobart got wins from junior Emma Novak at #2 singles, seniors Lauren Cicillian & Katrina Hansen at #1 doubles and seniors Emma Lewis & Hayley Borman at #2 doubles to earn the THRILLING 3-2 VICTORY!! All 5 matches were TIGHT ... which means the SECTIONAL next month should be EXCITING if these teams meet again!
Thursday, the Lowell Red Devils came north on I-65 for an NCC showdown and this one was another nail-biter! The Lady Brickies got a win at #1 singles as senior Addison Kasch DOMINATED her Lowell counterpart 6-4, 6-0! Novak WON AGAIN at #2 singles (6-3, 6-3) and the #1 doubles tandem of Cicillian & Hansen followed suit (6-1, 6-0) to deliver a 2nd CONSECUTIVE 3-2 WIN for Hobart!!
On Friday, the Lady Brickies "home stand" stretched to 3 as our girls hosted Boone Grove. After enduring back-to-back GRUELING matches against a possible sectional opponent (Merrillville) and an NCC rival (Lowell), Hobart looked tested and TOUGH in DISMANTLING the Lady Wolves 5-0!! Get the brooms out folks because our girls earned a SWEEP for the week!!
Hobart is currently 5-4 on the season and an even 1-1 in NCC play! This week will again put our girls to the test with 3 more matches and a trip to New Prairie on Saturday for an invite! LET'S GO BRICKS!
#ACES
Softball
On Thursday, our girls headed South on I-65 for an NCC tilt with the rival Red Devils. Hobart got on the board early with a run in the top half of the 1st inning and then EXPLODED for 6 more runs in the 2nd inning to take a COMMANDING 7-0 lead! Lowell managed to score a few here and there, but never threatened and our Lady Brickies came home with a BIG W by a 7-4 score! Our girls POUNDED out 12 hits at the plate ... 2 each by seniors Hannah Camarena, Saylem Smith & Sarah Joswiak, sophomore Alyssa Janik, and freshman Keirys Click ... and got another STRONG performance on the mound by freshman Morgan Ellenberger!
Friday night, the Lady Brickies celebrated SENIOR NIGHT against Hammond Clark. With 8 SENSATIONAL SENIORS to recognize, the ceremony took place prior to the 1st pitch while Clark warmed up on the JV field. After gifts were distributed and happy tears wiped from everyone's faces, Hobart got it going early and often against the Pioneers. Our girls hit 4 HOMERUNS ... Smith BLASTED 2 and senior Alyssa Peterson & sophomore Kylee Watts each sent one over the fence and into the woods ... and scored a season-best 19 runs in just 4 innings of work!! FIVE different pitchers (Smith and classmates Gracie Rivera & Neely Fisk, Watts and freshman Ella Hornak) combined to throw a NO-HITTER as the Lady Brickies CRUISED to a SENIOR NIGHT VICTORY 19-0!! To quote Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Caray, "HOLY COW!"
Hobart has won 4 IN A ROW and boasts an overall record of 8-3 with a mark of 2-1 in NCC action! The Lady Brickies play every day this week but 1 ... should be an exciting time at the ol' ball game! Hey!!
#SHINEBRIGHTONTHEDIAMOND
Unified Track & Field
On Thursday, our Unified Track & Field team traveled to Crown Point HS for their 1st meet of the season. No scores were kept, but both athletes and partners got an opportunity to compete against other area schools and earn qualifying marks for the state tournament series, which begins in late May. Our kids were TERRIFIC across the board and represented HHS with an ENORMOUS amount of PRIDE!
Some highlights from Thursday's meet @ CP:
100m Dash - Junior Jacob Irizarry - 2nd in Heat 1, senior Mary Daw - 8th in Heat 1, senior Jacob Yardley - 1st in Heat 2, sophomore Sarah Kessler - 7th in Heat 3, sophomore Tessa White - 8th in Heat 3, senior Courtney Burris - 7th in Heat 4, senior Jazzy Damron - 7th in Heat 5, junior Sydney Mock - 8th in Heat 5, freshman Andrew Renn - 3rd in Heat 6, senior Trevor Drapac - 4th in Heat 6, senior Serenity Smith - 5th in Heat 7
400m Relay (boys) - Yardley, Irizarry, senior Domenic Stengel & freshman Jack Guzman - 2nd place
400m Relay (girls) - Kessler, Daw, White & junior Sydney Belk - 2nd place
400m Dash - Guzman - 2nd in Heat 1, Belk - 4th in Heat 1, Yardley - 3rd in Heat 2, Stengel - 7th in Heat 2
Thank you to Coach Brian Wesley, Coach Jackie Keefe, and Coach Kelly Butler for all your hard work preparing these kids to compete, to our partners for helping break down walls to enable true inclusion to occur, and to our athletes for having the courage to TRY! This is EXACTLY the kind of event that helps create the kind of school culture that we WANT - one where students from different backgrounds with different abilities all WORK WORK WORK TOGETHER in pursuit of a common goal - to become a part of something bigger than ourselves, to care about and serve others, and to help each other become the very best version of ourselves we can be!
#WEAREHOBART
Thank you to Kriste Bell for all the AMAZING pictures!
Boys Golf
On Thursday, Hobart hosted the 59ers at River Pointe Country Club. In spite of the less than ideal conditions, our boys SHINED in shooting a solid team score of 207 - just two shots off where they were a week ago vs. Morgan Township. Unfortunately, Andrean was "all that and a bag of chips" as they ROLLED with a team score of 182.
Junior Ethan Cover was the top finisher for Hobart with a team-best 49. Freshman Parker Glass shot an even 50 to match senior teammate Logan Kingery's score and senior Carter Mohr rounded out the Brickie top 4 with a 58.
The Brickies are an even 1-1 on the young season and will be busy PLAYING THROUGH in the next few weeks if the weather will cooperate.
If Hobart can continue improving as a team each time out, it'll be fun to see how far under 200 (per 9 holes as a team) these guys can shoot!
#BETHEBALL
Baseball
Hobart squared off against #8-ranked Munster on the road on Wednesday. Our boys scored 1 in the first only to see the Mustangs take a 2-1 lead after 2 innings of play. The Brickies added another in the top of the 3rd to tie it again, but Munster broke loose for 9 runs over the next 2 innings to blow the game open and send Hobart back to The Friendly City with a tough 12-4 loss. Junior Marc Enslen went 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI at the plate and struck out the side in his only inning of work on the mound.
On Thursday, the Brickies welcomed Munster to East Lake County looking for a different result in the rematch. Trailing 4-0 through 2 innings of play, Hobart clamped down on D-D-D-DEFENSE and shut the 'stangs down the rest of the way thanks to some OUTSTANDING play in the field and a SUPERB performance on the mound by sophomore Cam Gonzalez! Unfortunately, the Brickie offense could only muster 1 run in the bottom of the 7th against perhaps the best pitcher our boys will see all year and Munster left town with a hard fought 4-1 victory. Gonzalez and seniors Jaden Deel & Bryce Niksich each registered a hit in the loss.
Friday, the #7-ranked Valparaiso Vikings visited H-town for the Brickies' 3rd consecutive clash with a top-10 opponent ... and this one was a THRILLER! Valpo struck 1st by scoring 3 runs in the 1st 3 innings, but Hobart BATTLED BACK and notched 5 BIG ONES in the bottom of the 3rd to take a 5-3 lead! The Vikings responded with 5 of their own in the 4th and 4 more in the 6th to go ahead 12-5. RALLY CAPS!!! The Brickies EXPLODED for 5 more in the bottom half of the 6th to cut the lead to only 12-10! Valpo tacked on an insurance run in the top of the 7th to go up 13-10 ... and that's when it got CRAZY!! With the sun going down in the West, our boys put together 3 straight singles to load the bases and cut the Viking lead to 13-11 with just 1 out! Gonzalez singled in another run to make it 13-12 and with 2 out and the bases still loaded, Niksich laced a single to right field to score Deel and we had a TIE BALLGAME!!!! The Brickies scored 8 runs over the final 2 innings to send this one into EXTRA INNINGS! INCREDIBLE!! As crazy as Hobart's comeback was, Valpo made things even crazier by scoring 5 more runs in the top of the 8th and unfortunately, our boys finally ran out of gas and lost 18-13 in 8 innings. What a game. Deel finished 5-for-6 at the plate with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI ... Gonzalez, senior Ryan Ellis and sophomore Kyle Feterick collected 3 hits each as our boys out-hit the Vikings 20-14.
The Brickies are currently 8-5 on the year and 1-3 in NCC play. Another area top-10 team, Highland, will be our opponent on both Monday & Tuesday before our boys close the week against Boone Grove and Chesterton.
DON'T MISS HOBART @ US Steelyard (aka RAILCATS STADIUM) on MONDAY NIGHT as they take on the HIGHLAND TROJANS ... game time is 7:30pm. Tickets are SOLD OUT in the Athletic Office, but will be AVAILABLE at the gate ... ONLY $5 per person! BE THERE!!
#ALLABOARD
The NWI Times was here last Friday to see our boys face Valpo!
Track & Field
The CRAZY COLD temps on Tuesday caused the regularly scheduled track & field meet against Munster to be postponed until Thursday, May 6th. With Tuesday's meet cancelled for the time being, only 1 meet dotted the T&F landscape this past week ... the Dick Dearduff Classic at LaPorte High School on Saturday.
Girls
The Lady Brickies traveled to LaPorte on Saturday to participate in the annual Dick Dearduff Classic ... an invitational where kids get to see some top-notch athletes without any team scores being kept. A few highlights from the rain-soaked competition included senior Anisha Lewis WINNING the 200m Dash, junior Shanena Knight and classmate Anna Wood placing 2nd & 4th in the Shot Put, and sophomore Haylie Skripac winning her section of the 300m Hurdles to finish 4th overall!!
Here are some results from Saturday:
100m Hurdles - sophomore Haylie Skripac - 5th, freshman Cailey Weber - 6th
100m Dash - senior Anisha Lewis - 5th, junior Dominique Clemons - 6th
1600m Run - junior Mikayla Fuentes - 10th, sophomore Gianna Rodriguez - 13th
400m Dash - freshman Ella Freimuth - 9th
300m Hurdles - Skripac - 4th, senior Faith Kietzman - 10th
800m Run - freshman Adriana Arauz - 12th, freshman Addy Black - 13th
200m Dash - Lewis - 1st
3200m Run - freshman Ella Hornak - 8th, freshman Kylee King - 12th
1600m Relay - Lewis, Clemons, Freimuth & sophomore Sarah Romeo - 3rd
High Jump - sophomore Daeges Morgan - 4th, senior Maddy Slicker - 6th
Shot Put - junior Shanena Knight - 2nd, junior Anna Wood - 4th
Discus - Wood - 11th, Knight - 12th
Boys
Our boys tracksters joined the Lady Brickies over at LaPorte on Saturday and even though the rain NEVER stopped throughout the day, Hobart saw a number of FANTASTIC performances on the track and in the field! Senior Bruce Leipart placed 2nd in the 800m run and freshman Ryan Mattel won his section to place 3rd overall! Sophomore Diego Verduzco continued to SHINE in the throws after earning 3rd in the shot put and 5th in the disc. Freshman Jacob Ramirez was 5th in the 400m Dash and sophomore Gavin Miller-Lane finished 5th in the High Jump with a new PR!
Here are some results from Saturday:
110m Hurdles - junior Jaden Camacho - 6th
100m Dash - sophomore Darrion White - 8th, junior Luke Abbott - 13th
1600m Run - junior Joe Meagher - 7th, junior Jonah Wells - 14th
400m Dash - freshman Jacob Ramirez - 5th, junior Dakota Vanderberg - 8th
300m Hurdles - Camacho - 8th, sophomore Gavin Miller-Lane - 11th
800m Run - senior Bruce Leipart - 2nd, freshman Ryan Mattel - 3rd
200m Dash - sophomore Colton Charo - 14th, sophomore Hunter Juris - 15th
3200m Run - freshman Owen Stankich - 11th
1600m Relay - Leipart, Mattel, Ramirez & senior Julian Ruiz - 3rd
Long Jump - Miller-Lane - 13th, freshman Quinten Stengel - 15th
High Jump - Miller-Lane - 5th
Discus - sophomore Diego Verduzco - 5th, Juris - 9th
Shot Put - Verduzco - 3rd, junior Connor Bock - 9th
The Brickies will be back in action @ Highland for a Northwest Crossroads Conference clash on Tuesday and our boys will head to Warsaw for the prestigious Max Truex Invite on Friday night. Giddyup!
#PRIDEANDTRADITION
Thank you to Coach K for sharing so many great pictures!
Special thanks to Bob Guerrero & New Concept Video Sports for his work at the 80th Annual Little 5 Invite a week ago!
Next Level
Alex was a key contributor for the Brickies' 2021 State Qualifying team!
CONGRATULATIONS ALEX! WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU!!
#STRIKEAPOSE
Sports Schedule This Week
Softball @ Merrillville (V & JV)
Baseball vs. Highland @ US Steel Yard/Railcats Stadium *
Tuesday
Baseball vs. Highland *
Girls Track & Field @ Highland *
Boys Track & Field @ Highland *
Girls Tennis @ Highland *
Boys Golf vs. Portage
JV Baseball @ Highland *
Wednesday
Softball @ Kankakee Valley *
Boys Golf @ Highland *
Girls Tennis @ East Chicago
JV Baseball vs. Highland *
Thursday
Unified Track & Field @ Kankakee Valley
Softball @ Griffith
Baseball vs. Boone Grove
Girls Tennis @ Munster *
JV Softball @ Bishop Noll
Friday
Baseball vs. Chesterton (V & JV)
Softball @ LaPorte Trny
Boys Track & Field @ Warsaw Invite
Unified Track & Field @ River Forest
Saturday
Softball @ LaPorte Trny
Boys Golf @ Kankakee Valley Invite
Girls Tennis @ New Prairie Invite
JV Softball @ Boone Grove
* = NCC Opponent