BricksCenter
DaDaDa DaDaDa
May 16, 2021
21 Sports ... 1 Team ... WE ARE HOBART!
On Saturday, Los Angeles Lakers icon Kobe Bryant was inducted posthumously into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Bryant was inducted as part of the Class of 2020, almost 16 months after he and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were killed in a helicopter crash along with seven others in southern California.
Known as one of the ALL-TIME toughest competitors in all of sports, Kobe showed amazing resiliency and grit throughout his career. Those traits could be attributed to his famous MAMBA MENTALITY. Here is a description of his Mamba Mentality in his own words:
This week, Brickie spring sports will either be wrapping up regular season play or beginning the IHSAA Tournament Series. In either scenario, keeping the MAMBA MENTALITY in focus may just be the key to finding the right mix of resiliency and grit that help our student athletes find something special in their performance!
Mamba out ... it's time for BricksCenter!
Track & Field
For the girls, the Lady Brickies got standout performances from a number of student athletes, but two in particular really made an impact! Senior Anisha Lewis (3rd in the 100m dash, 2nd in the 200m dash) and freshman Cailey Weber (3rd in 100m hurdles, 2nd in 300m hurdles) each earned ALL-NCC individually in their respective events ... and then teamed up with sophomore Asia Donald and freshman Ella Hornak to earn ALL-NCC honors again by placing 3rd in the 4x400m relay! Not even the lights turning off in the middle of the race could keep our girls from running a SEASON-BEST time!! Hornak also placed 5th in both the 1600 and 800! Sophomore Sarah Romeo CRUSHED her PR in the 400m dash to place 5th and narrowly missed out on ALL-NCC by a mere 0.13 seconds. Classmates Daeges Morgan (4th in the high jump) and Haylie Skripac (5th in the 100 hurdles) also had FANTASTIC performances ... just missing all-conference recognition.
Here are some of the girls results from Tuesday:
3200m Relay - seniors Lilly Butler & Faith Hillan, sophomore Gianna Rodriguez and freshman Kylee King - 5th
100m Hurdles - freshman Cailey Weber - 3rd (Honorable Mention All NCC), sophomore Haylie Skripac - 5th
100m Dash - senior Anisha Lewis - 3rd (Honorable Mention All NCC), junior Dominique Clemons - 5th
1600m Run - freshman Ella Hornak - 5th, junior Mikayla Fuentes - 9th
400m Relay - Lewis, sophomore Asia Donald and juniors Clemons and Ja'Diah Belk - 5th
400m Dash - sophomore Sarah Romeo - 5th, freshman Ella Freimuth - 9th
300m Hurdles - Weber - 2nd (2nd-team All NCC), Skripac - 7th
800m Run - Hornak - 5th, Rodriguez - 11th
200m Dash - Lewis - 2nd (2nd-team All NCC), Clemons - 7th
3200m Run - King - 9th, freshman Addy Black - 10th
1600m Relay - Lewis, Weber, Donald & Hornak - 3rd (Honorable Mention All NCC)
High Jump - sophomore Daeges Morgan - 4th, senior Maddy Slicker - 9th
Long Jump - Donald - 7th, junior Payton Holdorf - 9th
Shot Put - junior Shanena Knight - 9th, junior Anna Wood - 10th
Discus - Wood - 7th, Knight - 10th
For the boys, senior Bruce Leipart was SUPER, SCINTILLATING & SENSATIONAL as he stole the show and closed out his NCC career with 3 more All-NCC awards! Leipart ran INCREDIBLE legs on both the 1600m & 3200m relay teams and sprinted to 2nd place in the open 800m run! The Brickies actually put quite a few athletes on the All-NCC team ... the Johnston brothers (Cody & Riley) went 1-2 in the pole vault, sophomore Gavin Miller-Lane took 3rd in the high jump, freshman Ryan Mattel finished 3rd in the 800m run, freshman Jacob Ramirez & junior Dakota Vanderberg joined Leipart & Mattel on the 3rd place 1600m relay team and junior Joe Meagher was part of the 3rd place 3200m relay team along with Leipart, Mattel and Ramirez. As you can see, our boys were ALL OVER the ALL-NCC board with some SUPERB individual performances and RIDICULOUS relays!! It was definitely a GREAT DAY TO BE A BRICKIE!!
Here are some boys results from Tuesday:
3200m Relay - senior Bruce Leipart, junior Joe Meagher, freshmen Jacob Ramirez & Ryan Mattel - 3rd (Honorable Mention All NCC)
110m Hurdles - junior Jaden Camacho - 4th
100m Dash - sophomore Darrion White - 8th
1600m Run - junior Jonah Wells - 9th, freshman Jayden Ramos - 10th
400m Relay - White, senior Luke Abbott and sophomores Gavin Miller-Lane & Colton Charo - 5th
400m Dash - Ramirez - 4th, junior Ian Freimuth - 9th
300m Hurdles - junior Dakota Vanderberg - 6th, Camacho - 9th
800m Run - Leipart - 2nd (2nd-team All NCC), Mattel - 3rd (Honorable Mention All NCC)
3200m Run - Meagher - 5th, freshman Owen Stankich - 9th
1600m Relay - Leipart, Mattel, Ramirez & Vanderberg - 3rd (Honorable Mention All NCC)
High Jump - Miller-Lane - 3rd (Honorable Mention All NCC), junior Ethan Ferba - 5th
Long Jump - Miller-Lane - 6th, Ferba - 8th
Pole Vault - sophomore Cody Johnston - 1st (1st-team All NCC), senior Riley Johnston - 2nd (2nd-team All NCC)
Shot Put - sophomore Diego Verduzco - 5th, junior Elizjah Wilson - 6th
Discus - Wilson - 4th, Verduzco - 7th
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.
#RUNBRICKIESRUN
Girls Tennis
On Monday over at Michigan City High School, Hobart tamed the wolves to the tune of 5-0!! Senior Addison Kasch (#1 singles), junior Emma Novak (#2 singles) and the senior duo of Lauren Cicillian & Katrina Hansen (#1 doubles) all won in STRAIGHT SETS! Junior Aoife Combs (#3 singles) and seniors Emma Lewis & Hayley Borman (#2 doubles) played 3 sets to secure the VICTORY!!
Wednesday, the Lady Brickies were once again ROAD WARRIORS as they traveled just north of HWY 6 to face neighborhood rival River Forest. The Ingots did not field competitors @ #3 singles or #2 doubles, so there were only 3 matches played to determine the victor. Kasch and Novak did not drop a game in singles play, but the contest at #1 doubles was FANTASTIC! RF won the 1st set 6-4 ... Hobart rallied to take the 2nd 6-1 to set up a TIE BREAKER!! In the 3rd and final set, it was literally BACK-N-FORTH ... not just the actual tennis ball, but also the scoring ... RF scored, Hobart scored ... you get the idea. Ultimately, it was the LADY BRICKIES who won 10-8 in a THRILLER!! WHAT A MATCH!! Cicillian & Hansen were PHENOMENAL in outlasting the Ingots and made plays when they needed to. GREAT JOB LADIES!!
The Lady Brickies are 11-5 on the season, have now won 6 out of their last 7, and seem to ROLLING at just the right time! Our girls are scheduled to host the IHSAA Sectional starting Wednesday. LET'S GO BRICKS!!
#ACES
Baseball
The Brickies finished the NCC round-robin schedule with a pair of contests against KV and then finished the week with games against Wheeler & area powerhouse Crown Point. As they have all season, this group continued to show resiliency and GRIT over the last 7 days ... two traits that will no doubt help them in another week when the post-season begins!
On Monday, Hobart celebrated SENIOR NIGHT and hosted the KV Kougars in conference play. The recognition of our 5 seniors ... Jaden Deel, Ryan Ellis, Gavin Gallagher, Tyler Kunkle and Bryce Niksich ... and their parents was a great start to the afternoon. Unfortunately, little went well for the Brickies afterwards as the Kougars scored 5 runs over the 1st two innings and ended up leaving town with a 12-2 win. Freshmen Jevan Andrews and Thomas Martin combined to go 3-5 at the plate and Kunkle registered the only RBI on the night for Hobart.
Remember what we said about resiliency?
Tuesday, our boys got another crack at the Kougars ... this time on their home turf down in DeMotte. Same two teams ... completely different story. This time it was the Brickies who got on the board 1st with 2 runs in the opening inning! KV cut the lead in half with 1 of their own in the bottom of the 4th, but Hobart responded with another in the 5th and WON 3-1!! The D-D-D-DEFENSE ... led by sophomore Cam Gonzalez who pitched all 7 innings and struck out 9 ... was BRILLIANT in shutting down the Kougar attack!! On offense, the Bricks were led by underclassmen on this night with Andrews, Gonzalez and freshman Luke Granzow each scoring runs and Martin going 1-for-3 with an RBI!!
On Thursday, Porter County neighbor Wheeler was the opponent as the Brickies headed East of County Line Rd for an afternoon contest against the Bearcats. This one was a total SLUGFEST! Hobart plated 8 HUGE runs in the top of the 1st and appeared in cruise-mode through 4 and half innings with a 15-1 advantage. Give credit the Bearcats for not giving up as they rallied for 7 runs in the bottom of the 5th to keep the game going. Our boys tacked on 3 more and won 18-10 in what looked more like a football score than a baseball one :). Junior Marc Enslen was magnificent in going 4-for-4 at the plate with two doubles, 3 runs scored and 5 RBI!! Gallagher picked up his 6th win of the season on the mound as Hobart improved to 15-8 on the year!
Friday, the Crown Point Bulldogs of the Duneland Athletic Conference rolled into H-town for a non-conference game. With both the Brickies & Bulldogs ranked in the area top 10, this one was bound to be good! Unfortunately, Crown Point had some hot bats at the plate, hit the ball hard, and outscored our boys 11-5.
Hobart is now 15-9 on the season ... finished 4-6 in NCC play, and has 3 games remaining before IHSAA Sectional play begins over at Chesterton High School in about a week and a half. If the Brickies can continue to show the same resiliency they've illustrated time and time again this spring, these last 3 will be fun and provide some added fine-tuning for the post-season. DON'T STOP NOW BOYS!
#WEBELIEVE
SENIOR NIGHT 2021
Boys Golf
The Brickies FINALLY had some 50+ degree weather to swing the wrenches in this past week and our boys took full advantage of it to show off how much they've improved this spring!
On Monday, Hobart played in the Boone Grove Invite at The Four Seasons Golf Course. The wind was a bit more than they bargained for, but the Brickies shot a SEASON BEST 207 as a team and tied for 2nd place overall in the 67-team field! Senior Logan Kingery was LIGHTS OUT with a team-best (... and 4th overall individual) score of 47 ... classmate Chad Tomaga and junior Ethan Cover backed him up with 51s ... freshman Parker Glass signed his card with a 58 and senior Carter Mohr rounded out the top 5 with a 61.
Tuesday, the Brickies hosted the Highland Trojans in NCC action at River Pointe Country Club. The Trojans took the W with a 183 team score, but Hobart AGAIN shot a SEASON BEST score ... this time dropping 3 strokes from Monday down to a 204!! Tomaga was as cool as the other side of the pillow with a team-best 44 ... Glass (53), Cover (53) and Kingery (54) completed the top 4 for Hobart.
On Wednesday, Hobart completed their trifecta for the week with their 3rd consecutive match. Munster was the host school at Centennial Park as our boys joined Griffith in the triangular meet. The Mustangs, playing on their home course, were really good in placing two golfers at par or just above to take 1st place overall. The Brickies TIED their SEASON BEST with another 204 to best Griffith by a whopping 33 strokes to place 2nd! Kingery led Hobart with a 46 that included the SHOT OF THE NIGHT ... chipping one in for par from 20 yards out! INCREDIBLE!!
The Brickies showed ENORMOUS improvement this past week ... dipping as close to the 200 mark as they've been all year and staying there for 3 straight rounds! Looks like the warm weather might be just what Coach Roach ordered ... and with 4 more chances this week to put the ball in play, our boys seem to be finding their groove at just the right time!! SENIOR NIGHT will be fun this week - GOOD LUCK GUYS ... hit 'em long & straight!
#BETHEBALL
Softball
4 days ... 4 games ... all TOUGH NCC opponents. That's what the Lady Brickies faced this week thanks to a few rain/snow reschedules and only 1 week remaining in the regular season. Our girls were put to the test and discovered that they too have that same resiliency and GRIT that all great success stories inevitably need to get over the hump!
On Monday, the Lady Brickies were On The Road Again (thank you Willie Nelson) headed West on the Borman Expressway towards Munster to face the Lady Mustangs. Munster jumped out to an early 4-0 cushion ... and when Hobart finally got 1 on the board in the top of the 3rd, the Mustangs put 3 more across the plate to take a commanding 7-1 lead after just 4 innings of play. Hobart could've packed it in, but our girls showed that GRIT and kept grinding ... scoring 3 runs in the top of the 7th to put a scare into the hosts!! Unfortunately, the rally ended a little short and the Lady Brickies lost a hard fought game 7-4. Seniors Saylem Smith and Hannah Camarena each had two hits in the contest. Hobart will get another shot at Munster this Monday at home.
On Wednesday, Hobart hosted the Lowell Red Devils in their 3rd consecutive NCC contest of the week! Normally, the schedule is a bit more balanced than this ... unfortunately, just about every conference game for the Lady Brickies occurred when it was raining or snowing, which meant a reschedule. This one was INTENSE ... keeping spectators on the edge-of-their-seat! Hobart once again held an early 2-1 lead thanks to some timely hitting and FANTASTIC D-D-D-DEFENSE! Sadly ... for the 2nd straight day, our opponent put together a late rally to take the lead and then held on for dear life for the win. Lowell plated 3 runs between the 4th & 5th innings and was able to clamp down on the Lady Brickie offense ... eventually winning 4-2. Peterson and freshman Keirys Click each registered 2 hits for Hobart as our girls lost their 3rd straight tough one in as many days.
RESILIENCY - the ability to recover quickly
GRIT - courage and resolve, strength of character
Thursday, the Lady Brickies were experiencing some deja vu as they squared off against the Lady Kougars from KV again ... a rematch from Tuesday. After losing early leads the last two days, our girls FLIPPED THE SCRIPT in this one and showed how RESILIENT they can be! On Thursday, it was KV who jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage only to see the Lady Brickies BATTLE BACK with 1 run in the 6th and 3 more in the top of the 7th to earn a THRILLING, COME-FROM-BEHIND VICTORY 4-2!! WOW!! Hobart NEVER lost hope and showed tremendous GRIT in staying the course and finding a way to collectively overcome! Down 1 run heading into our final at-bat, freshman Sammi James lead off with a single ... senior Elyse Hostetler took 1st base after being hit by a pitch ... Click laid down a GREAT sacrifice bunt to advance the runners, and sisters Lindsey & Morgan Schallenkamp scored to give Hobart the lead!! AMAZING!! Freshman Morgan Ellenberger tossed a complete game on the mound and shut down the Kougars in the 7th inning to earn the "W"! WHAT A GAME!!
Hobart is now 14-10 on the season and 4-5 in league play. Our girls have 3 games remaining in the regular season before IHSAA Sectional play starts. WE GOT THIS! WE ARE HO-BART!!
#GIRLPOWER
Unified Track & Field
"Be at your best when your best is needed." John Wooden
LET'S GO BRICKS!!
#WERUNTHISTOWN
Sports Schedule This Week
Softball vs. Munster (V & JV) *
Boys Golf @ KV
JV Baseball @ Munster *
Tuesday
Girls Track & Field @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (Lowell High School)
Wednesday
Girls Tennis @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (Hobart High School)
Softball @ Lake Station
Boys Golf vs. LaCrosse (SENIOR NIGHT)
JV Softball @ Illiana Christian
JV Baseball vs. Boone Grove
Thursday
Boys Track & Field @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (Crown Point High School)
Girls Tennis @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (Hobart High School)
Baseball @ Kouts
Softball vs. Valparaiso (@ Dowling Park)
Boys Golf vs. Illiana Christian
Friday
Girls Tennis @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (Hobart High School)
Baseball @ Lake Central
JV Softball vs. Valparaiso
JV Baseball vs. Highland
Saturday
Unified Track & Field @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (Valparaiso High School)
Baseball vs. Hammond Morton
JV Baseball @ NCC Trny (Lowell High School)
Boys Golf @ Lake Central Invite
* = NCC Opponent