By Drake Skleba

The Elite 8 is set and ready to do battle in the 2012 Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association/Phil Lawler Summer State Baseball Tournament on Monday. Bracket play will begin on Monday, July 23 at North Central College in Naperville and Benedictine University in Lisle.

The tournament, behind the sponsorship of the IHSBCA, is in its 37^th year of competition. Since 2009, the tournament has also gone by the moniker of the Phil Lawler Summer Classic.

The late-great Phil Lawler was the IHSBCA Hall of Fame pitching coach at Naperville Central. Phil coached at Naperville Central for 28 years and was a world-renowned figure at his pe4life.org, which promoted physical education for America’s youth. Phil passed away on April 23, 2010. The IHSBCA/Phil Lawler State Championship team trophy bears Phil’s name.

The North Central Bracket consists of Jacobs, St. Laurence, Crystal Lake South and Montini.

The Benedictine University Bracket consists of Lyons Township, Joliet Catholic Academy, Maine South and Wauconda. At 10 a.m. on Monday at North Central, Jacobs (25-1) will meet upstart Montini.

Montini surprised the top-seeded Redhawks of Naperville Central 5-4 in the quarterfinals of the Glenbard South Regional on Tuesday and defeated Wheaton Warrenville South on Thursday in the regional championship game to punch their ticket to North Central.

The Golden Eagles of Jacobs, the No.1 seed at the Lake Park Regional, defeated the hosts, Lake Park, 3-2 in the regional final on Thursday in Roselle. The Golden Eagles possess the best record of the Elite 8 schools.

At 12:30, Crystal Lake South (20-3), which along with Jacobs, play in the tough Fox Valley Conference Valley Division, will meet Chicago Catholic League Blue Division power St. Laurence. The Gators of Crystal Lake South put 20 on the board in their 20-7 St. Charles East Regional championship game victory over the host Fighting Saints on Thursday.

The top-seeded Vikings of St. Laurence (17-2) hammered Marist 11-1 in six-innings on Thursday to claim the Richards Regional crown. St. Laurence in 1981 took home the IHSBCA Summer State Tournament trophy back to Burbank.

At 10 a.m. at Benedictine on Monday, three-time IHSBCA State Champion Lyons Township (28-4-1) will meet Joliet Catholic Academy (17-2). The Hilltoppers won the 1983 IHSBCA Summer State crown.

Lyons Township, the Class 4A state champion in 2010 and the Class 4A state-runner-up this spring, crushed Maine West 10-0 in five innings on Thursday to win the Fenwick Regional title.

JCA won a classic 1-0 victory over city-rival Joliet West in 10 innings, to win the Lockport Regional championship on Thursday.

In the second game at Benedictine on Monday, Maine South and Wauconda will battle at 12:30. Maine South defeated Fremd 3-2 on Thursday to win the Palatine Regional Championship to give the Hawks a return trip to Lisle. Maine South made the Elite 8 in 2011.

Wauconda defeated Carmel of Mundelein 7-5 on Thursday to punch the Bulldogs ticket to Du Page County. Wauconda, a No. 11 seed, won the Libertyville Regional title over Carmel.

The losers at both sites will face off in the first elimination game at 3 on Monday at both sites.

The teams will switch sites on Tuesday for second-round action at 10 & 12:30. Two more schools will be eliminated. The Final Four will face-off in semifinal action at Benedictine at 5 & 7:30 on Wednesday night. The Phil Lawler Summer Classic State Championship Game will commence at 7:30 on Thursday night at Benedictine between Wednesday’s winners.