Prep Baseball Report

Top-10 Stories of 2021: The IHSA season returns to create another dramatic spring season


By Andy Sroka
Illinois and Wisconsin Assistant Director

At the end of each calendar year, our staff reflects on the most interesting stories of the past year. Through the end of the month, we’ll be counting down some of the most impactful headlines that affected Illinois’ baseball community, ending with our No. 1 story of 2021 revealed on New Year’s Day.

The pandemic we’ve been enduring forced us to postpone and pause many events, and the 2020 Illinois high school baseball season was among them. The lack of a 2020 IHSA campaign left a void within our perennial baseball coverage as one of our favorite times of the year, and its return this past spring created a cause for celebration.

The IHSA rearranged its athletic calendar for the 2020-21 school year, pushing opening day to April 12, but the Illinois baseball community was eager and thrilled to have the sport back integrated into our lives.

We’re spending some time today reflecting on some of our in-season coverage throughout this past spring season. For a refresher, here’s how our final edition of our state’s Power 25 Rankings shook out, following the state championship tournaments where Plainfield East, Springfield, Freeburg, and South Central captured state titles at the 4A through 1A classes, respectively.

FINAL POWER 25 BOARD

RANK
LAST UPDATE TEAM CLASS
2021 RECORD
1
NR Plainfield East 4A  19-15
2 6 Lake Park 4A 33-5
3 21 Springfield 3A 31-5
4 NR O'Fallon 4A 26-10
5 NR Hononegah 4A 26-4
6 1 Huntley
4A 32-3
7 NR Freeburg 2A 36-3
8 2 Lincoln-Way East
4A  27-3
9 NR Prairie Ridge 3A 19-14
10 20 St. Laurence
3A 27-9
11 8 Normal University
 2A  32-4
12 3 Sacred Heart-Griffin
2A 33-3
13
15 Brother Rice
4A 29-11
14 4 Edwardsville
4A 34-4
15 5 Marist
4A 32-5
16 7 St. Charles North
4A 29-4
17 12 Hinsdale Central 4A  23-4
18 10 Downers Grove South
4A 27-4
19 14 Mundelein 4A  23-5-1
20 NR Providence Catholic 4A 26-13
21 18 Homewood-Flossmoor
4A  22-9
22 9 Lincoln-Way Central 4A  21-5-1
23
13 Naperville Central 4A  22-5
24 NR Washington 3A 24-8
25 11 Barrington 4A 21-5

On The Bubble (Listed Alphabetically): Bartlett (18-8), Bloomington (18-10), Brimfield (20-5), Charleston (26-10), Chicago Christian (24-4), Deerfield (22-13), East Peoria (17-9), Evanston (23-12-1), Galesburg (20-8), Glenbrook North (23-11), Glenbrook South (25-11-1), Grayslake Central (29-8), Hall (22-3), Harrisburg (29-1-2), Highland (20-12), Illinois Valley Central (19-7), Jacobs (25-8), Joliet Catholic (22-13), Joliet West (20-11-1), Lake Zurich (18-9), Lane Tech (25-7), Lemont (23-11), Libertyville (26-9), Lincoln-Way West (20-9), Lockport (22-12), Maine South (22-13), Manteno (32-3), Marian Catholic (19-17), Maroa Forsyth (15-5), Mascoutah (19-10), Minooka (19-11), Montini Catholic (22-9), Mount Carmel (21-11), Nazareth (27-11), New Trier (25-13), Normal West (19-15), Oak Forest (21-6-1), Oak Park-River Forest (17-8), Oswego (19-8), Palatine (19-10), Plainfield Central (18-11), Plainfield North (17-12), Plainfield South (18-7), Prospect (22-7-1), Reavis (19-10), Richmond-Burton (24-6), Riverside-Brookfield (19-5), Rockford Boylan (22-5), Saint Viator (24-12-2), South Central Farina (25-3), St. Charles East (21-10), St. Joseph-Ogden (33-3), St. Rita (20-16), Timothy Christian (21-9), Triad (26-11), Warren (17-12-2), Yorkville (17-14-1).

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