St. Laurence, Mount Carmel complete CCL domination

By Drake Skleba

CRESTWOOD - No. 9 St. Laurence and No. 3 Mount Carmel completed the Chicago Catholic League's domination of the 3rd Annual Southside Conference Challenge. In the final two games of the two-day event between the Chicago Catholic League and the East Suburban Catholic League, St. Laurence and Mount Carmel rolled to easy victories on Sunday.

St. Laurence rolled past Joliet Catholic Academy 9-2 and Mount Carmel defeated tournament host Marist 16-5 in the finale.

Earlier in the day Catholic White member St. Ignatius held on to beat St. Patrick of the ESCC 11-10. No. 7 St. Rita defeated ESCC member Notre Dame 2-1. The CCL took the best of seven series, 6-1. Only Marian Catholic from the ESCC was able to salvage a 14-10 win over De La Salle for the ESCC in the tourney opener on Saturday.

The games were played at beautiful Standard  Bank Stadium. I would like to thank everyone from Marist and the Windy City Thunderbolts for all their help and hospitality.

No. 9 St. Laurence 9, Joliet Catholic 2
St. Laurence senior RHP Charlie Naso used his powerful right arm and his powerful bat to lead the Vikings past the Hilltoppers. Naso scattered six hits and allowed one earned run in his complete-game gem. Naso punctuated a four-run Viking explosion in the third with a mammoth two-run shot to center to give the Vikings a 4-0 lead.

?Getting out of the first inning was really huge for me,? said Naso. ?I just threw strikes and wanted to get us a win. I threw basically fastballs all night. Kyle (Wood), Mike (Chimera) and I have been really hitting well. When the three of us are hitting, we are a very difficult team to beat.?

The heart of the St. Laurence batting order went 6-for-12 and drove in six runs. No. 3 hitter, Kyle Wood, had two hits, including a two-run triple.

?We had a big win at Lockport and we played with a lot of energy and it carried over to tonight,? said Wood. ?I put some pretty good swings on the ball and am feeling really good physically. The warm weather is great for me, keeps everything loose.?

Third baseman Mike Chimera had two singles, a double and two RBI.

?I am hitting the ball real well right now,? said Chimera. ?I hit the ball well down in Florida and we had a real good time down there. We are really playing as a team and playing well.?

Naso improves to 2-0 on the campaign as St. Laurence (9-2) will open up Catholic League play with a crossover at St.Ignatius at UIC on Monday.

?It was nice to see us play up to our potential,? said St. Laurence head coach Pete Lotus. ?Charlie (Naso) was outstanding on the mound for us. We really hit well today and it was a key to keep adding runs to our lead.?

No. 3 Mount Carmel 16, Marist 5
The finale of the Southside Challenge wasn?t very pretty. Every Caravan (10-1) starter had at least one hit and seven Caravan scored two runs.

Winning pitcher junior Tyler Laurisch (1-0) allowed two runs and four hits in his 3 ? innings of relief of University of Kentucky-bound Jeff Boehm, who left the game after 3 ? innings of work with tightness in his lower back. Boehm gave up three runs, including a pair of homers, and struck out five.

Laurish had two hits and drove home two Caravan runs.

?I didn?t know I would be pitching tonight for Jeff (Boehm),? said Laurisch. ?It took me a while to get loose. Once I did, I wanted to throw strikes. I hit the ball well as well as the whole team tonight.?

No. 9 hitter, sophomore 2B Beau Filkins, had two hits and a walk and drove in three Caravan runs.

?The bottom of our order was very productive tonight,? said Filkins. ?I just took the ball the other way tonight and was successful.?

Sophomore RF Jason Gasser had two hits and two RBI. Indiana University-bound Chris Sujka and sophomore SS Jerry Houston had two hits for the Caravan.

?We had a good weekend, defeating Rockford Boylan on Saturday and winning for the Catholic League tonight in the Challenge,? said Mount Carmel head coach Brian Hurry. ?We are playing well right now as we head into CCL play this week.?

Marist received home runs from RF Alex Puhar and a two-run shot from 3B Zac Lewis.