BricksCenter
DaDaDa DaDaDa
May 1, 2022
#21sports1team
Whew ... good thing all #21sports1team are so NSYNC ... it's time for BricksCenter!
Girls Tennis
Tuesday, Hobart was back at it in Northwest Crossroads Conference play with a visit from Highland. This time ... it was the Lady Brickies who served notice and claimed a THRILLING 3-2 VICTORY! Novak (#1 singles) and junior Kayla Walker (#3 singles) each won in straight sets to bring our girls within reach of a HUGE conference win. The 3rd & deciding game was played at #2 singles by sophomore Melanie Paterson. Paterson and her foe split the 1st two sets 6-3, 3-6 to set up a 3rd set tiebreaker. These two competitors went back-n-forth and after 12 more games, it was all tied up at 6-6 in the final set! Sooooooooo ... they played a tie-breaker to break the tie and Melanie WON 7-5!!! INCREDIBLE!!!
On Wednesday, East Chicago Central was scheduled to visit The Friendly City, but a RealFeel temperature of around 30 degrees at game time is not something tennis players love; therefore, the match was cancelled.
Thursday, the weather channel was all over the place with predictions, but even though it was cold, everything stayed dry long enough for for Lady Bricks to take on NCC front-runner Munster. In a tough match, the Lady 'Stangs defeated our girls 0-5.
On Saturday, our girls traveled to New Prairie for an Invitational with 7 other teams. Unfortunately, the tournament was rained out after the 1st round of competition and rescheduled for next weekend.
Hobart is now 4-5 on the year and 2-2 in NCC play. With two weeks remaining in the regular season, our girls are continuing to show growth every time out as they gear up for the IHSAA Sectional!
#SERVINGNOTICE
Baseball
On Tuesday, Hobart hit the road ... Ridge Road ... towards Highland for another key NCC matchup. In the rematch, it was the Trojans who jumped out to an early lead ... scoring 2 in each of the 2nd, 3rd & 4th innings for a 6-0 advantage. The Brickies finally got their bats going in the top of the 5th and put up 3 runs to cut the deficit in half!! Unfortunately, that's as close as our boys would get as Highland was able to hold off any more rallies and claimed a 6-3 win.
Wednesday's game against Illiana Christian, which had already been rescheduled once, was cancelled due to extremely low temperatures outside at game time.
On Thursday, Hobart visited Boone Grove to face the Wolves. After a scoreless first two innings of play, senior Ty Vann singled to right field with 2 outs in the top half of the 3rd and his teammates backed him up by rallying for 5 runs to take a commanding lead! Our boys tacked on two more runs and headed back to Lake County with an impressive 7-0 VICTORY!! Freshman Connor Stafford pitched a complete game shutout while allowing just 2 hits and striking out 5!! Sophomore Jevan Andrews added 3 RBI in the win!
Friday, our boys were back in Porter County ... this time to play Chesterton. For the 2nd game in 2 days, the Brickies put a freshman on the mound and he DELIVERED!! Aiden Leonard went 5 innings on the bump and surrendered just 1 earned run on 4 hits! Classmate Drew Burris came out of the bullpen in relief and threw two scoreless innings to secure the W!! Balboa was $$ at the plate with 2 hits, 2 RBI and 2 runs scored and Vann also filled the stat sheet with "2's" as he stole 2 bases, scored twice and knocked in 2 RBI!!
Hobart is currently 11-4 overall and 3-3 in NCC action. Monday, the 15-1 Andrean 59ers visit The Friendly City and put 1st place in the Northwest Crossroads Conference on the line. Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks - this one should be fun!! DON'T STOP NOW BOYS!!!
#DIAMONDNOTES
Softball
On Tuesday, Hobart was on the road in a HUGE NCC contest at Highland. As impressive as their win against Merrillville was on Monday, this one was even better! The Lady Brickies scored 2 runs in the 1st ... 3 more in the 3rd ... and then poured on 7 MORE over the final 3 innings to secure an IMPRESSIVE 12-2 WIN!!! Our girls pounded out 17 hits ... including 3 each from Belk, sophomore Keirys Click, junior Carigan Menear and freshman Emili Knestrict ... junior Alyssa Janik BLASTED a HOMERUN ... and sophomore Morgan Ellenberger struck out 7 batters & kept Highland batters guessing all night!! AWESOME!!
Wednesday, Kankakee Valley was scheduled to travel north the H-town, but frigid temps caused a postponement.
On Thursday, the Lady Brickies played the role of host for former NCC foe Griffith. The Lady Panthers jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage and controlled most of the game until our girls put together a 4-run 5th to take the lead! After shutting out Griffith in the top half of the 6th to stay ahead, Hobart EXPLODED for 5 more runs in the 6th to go up 9-2! The 7-run cushion was more than enough for sophomore pitcher Ella Hornak and she ... with a little help from her friends on D-D-D-DEFENSE ... closed out the game in the 7th! In total, Hornak struck out 9 batters while pitching the complete game! Click led the Hobart attack at the plate going 3-for-4 with 3RBI in the win!
Saturday morning, Hobart hit the road North to square off with Bishop Noll. Through 2 innings, our girls held a slim 1-0 lead. In the top half of the 3rd, the offensive flood gates opened and the Lady Bricks scored 16 runs over the next 3 innings and DOMINATED the Lady Warriors in an easy 17-1 WIN!! Click & Knestrict went a combined 7-for-8 at the plate, knocked in 7 runs and hit 3 HOMERS (1 by Click & 2 by Knestrict)!! Ellenberger, freshman Taylor Lopez and sophomore Gabi Moreno all registered 2 RBI as Hobart won its 5th STRAIGHT GAME!!
Hobart has now won 5 in-a-row, is 8-8 overall and are ON A ROLL!! This will be another HUGE week for the Lady Brickies with NCC games on Monday, Tuesday & Thursday before heading to Bloomington for a double-header on Saturday. LET'S GO LADIES!!!
#SHEGOTGAME
Check out what the Post Tribune had to say about sophomore Keirys Click!
Track & Field
For the Lady Brickies, it was a close meet throughout ... and eventually came down the the final event - the 4 x 400m relay. Trailing 60-62, the Brickies & Trojans lined up for the final race with 5 points available for the winning team to ultimately decide the victor. Sophomore Ella Freimuth led off ... then it was classmate Elisia Otero ... junior Sarah Romeo took the lead for Hobart on the 3rd leg and sophomore Cailey Weber did the rest as anchor, crossing the finish line in a season-best time for this group (4:27.40) and helping deliver a THRILLING 65-62 WIN for our girls!! Additionally, Hobart got 1st place finishes in individual events from Weber in both hurdles, senior JaDiah Belk in the 100m dash, senior Dominique Clemons in the 200m dash, and freshman Taylor Pope in the shot put!
On the boys side against the Trojans, the Brickies earned 1st place in 11 out of 16 events to win CONVINCINGLY 77-49!! 1st place finishers in individual events for Hobart included junior Cody Johnston, freshman Felix Lopez, senior Joe Meagher, sophomore Owen Stankich, senior Jaden Camacho, sophomore Anthony Hnilo, junior Gavin Miller and classmate Hunter Juris!
On Saturday, the Brickies hit the road for Delphi, Indiana to compete in the Ebrite Relays. This was the 1st year Hobart has participated in the coed relay event ... which consists of every event combining 2 boys & 2 girls. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!! Hobart got FANTASTIC performances all over the track and in the field events ... highlighted by the High Hurdle Relay team consisting of Weber, junior Haylie Skripac, Camacho & Miller that set a NEW MEET RECORD!! Other winning relays for H-town were the Low Hurdle Relay (Weber, Skripac, Camacho & senior Dakota Vanderberg) ... the 1600m Relay (Otero, sophomore Ryan Mattel, Weber & freshman Willie Shearer) ... the 400m Relay (Belk, Clemons, Shearer & senior Geo Koktsidis) ... and the Shot Put (senior Anna Wood, Pope, junior Diego Verduzco & senior Elizjah Wilson). Ultimately, Hobart placed 2nd overall out of 12 teams in attendance!!
The Brickies will wrap up the NCC regular season on Tuesday with a double-dual meet against both Kankakee Valley and Lowell at The Brickyard. With the NCC Championship meet just over a week out and the IHSAA post-season looming after, it's the most wonderful time of the year!! (I know it's a Christmas song, but it fits here - okay?)
#RUNBRICKIESRUN
Boys Golf
On Tuesday, the Brickies opponent was Portage and the location was Creekside. In a very close match throughout, Hobart was defeated by just 3 strokes ... 202-199. Sophomore Nate Becerra fired a personal best 57 in the loss.
Wednesday's NCC match against Highland was postponed due to a RealFeel of 29 at tee time. BRRRRRRR!!
On Thursday, Hobart was back home at River Pointe Country Club to take on Morgan Township in a match that was rescheduled from earlier this spring. The Brickies showed some consistency ... even with a few lineup shifts ... and shot a 203 to defeat Morgan by 30 STROKES and earn the VICTORY!! Sophomore Ben Eberle shot a 44 over the 9-holes to lead the Hobart contingent!
Saturday, Hobart participated in the Kankakee Valley Invitational at beautiful Sandy Pines. Out of 17 total teams competing, our boys placed 11th - an improvement of 3 spots from a year ago! Not only did the Brickies improve in placement, but our boys also dropped 25 strokes from their previous 18-hole best!! AMAZING!!! Senior Ethan Cover fired a 97 to earn medalist honors for Hobart ... sophomore Parker Glass shot 103, Eberle finished at 105, Becerra & classmate Tommy Snemis each completed the course in 112.
Counting Invites, our boys are now 7-13 and will hit the links again 3 more times this upcoming week! BE THE BALL guys ... NANANANANANANA
#PLAYTHROUGH
Unified Track
No team scores were kept, but our Brickies SHINED BRIGHT under the lights!
Here are some top finishers from the Brickies:
Long jump (B): sophomores Jack Guzman & Jorge Navarro
Long jump (G): juniors Cara Lawrence & Tessa White, freshman Summer Luttrell, and senior Haley Stricklin
Shot put (B): senior Jacob Irizarry, sophomores Mason Jackson & Gambo Cruz
Shot put (G): sophomore Katy Lawrence, junior Sarah Kessler, and freshman Lindsey Neyhart
100 Dash (B): Jackson, sophomore Aiden Burke, Irizarry & Guzman
100 Dash (G): C.Lawrence & Stricklin
400 Relay (B): sophomore Drew Renn, Jackson, freshman Jackson Butler, & Burke
400 Relay (G): C.Lawrence, K.Lawrence, junior Allyson Burns, & Stricklin
Coaches Jackie Keefe, Kriste Bell & Kelly Butler would like to give special thanks to peer helpers Emilee Burgess, Brookelynn Bennett, Madison Blowers, Marie White, and Aaron Bell!
This upcoming week, the Bricks will be back in action at Kankakee Valley on Friday!! WE ARE HOBART!!
#UNITY
Sports Schedule This Week
Softball vs. KV * (V&JV)
Boys Golf @ Lowell *
Girls Tennis @ Whiting
Baseball vs. Andrean *
JV Baseball @ Andrean *
9th Baseball vs. Andrean *
Tuesday
Girls Track & Field vs. Lowell/KV *
Boys Track & Field vs. Lowell/KV *
Softball vs. Highland * (V&JV)
Baseball @ Andrean *
Girls Tennis @ Griffith
Boys Golf @ Wheeler
JV Baseball vs. Andrean *
9th Baseball vs. Chesterton
Wednesday
JV Softball @ Kouts
9th Baseball @ Chesterton
Thursday
Softball @ Andrean *
Girls Tennis @ Andrean *
JV Softball vs. Andrean *
Friday
Unified Track @ KV
Saturday
Softball @ Bloomington South
JV Baseball @ Morgan Twp
9th Baseball vs. Highland *
* = NCC Opponent