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The West Lincoln-Broadwell Wolverines will play St. Paul, Joliet, at
the EastSide Centre on
Friday at 4:45 p.m. "We're going to see a World Series atmosphere
at the EastSide Centre," observed Steve Endsley, executive director.
"The three-class state series has allowed many teams to be in a
position to advance to their respective class' state final
tournament. Their communities are enthusiastic about their team's
chances. We'll have three games being played on three diamonds at
the same time all day Friday and Saturday. If you are a baseball
fan, it doesn't get much better than this."
Only five of the 16 teams in last year's two-class state final
event return this year. None are in Class 1A. One -- Bloomington
Holy Trinity -- returns this year in Class 2A. Four of last year's
Class AA field return in Class 3A -- Minooka, Danville North Ridge,
Effingham Junior High School and East Peoria Central.
Eight schools are making their first appearance of any kind in
the state tournament. They are as follows: Class 1A -- Donovan,
Springfield Christian, Joliet St. Paul, Lincoln West-Lincoln
Broadwell; Class 2A -- Tremont, Lockport Kelvin Grove, Danville
Oakwood; and Class 3A -- Romeoville Martinez.
East Peoria Central is by far the leader in all-time appearances
among this year's 24 teams. The Wildcats are playing in their 18th
state final and were single-class state champions six times,
1981-1986, and Class AA state champions three times, 1991-'92-'95.
Quarterfinals in Class 1A, Class 2A and Class 3A will be played
Friday, beginning at 10 a.m. The quarterfinal games are scheduled
for 10 a.m., 12:15 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. The winners Friday
come back for semifinals at 10 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. Saturday.
Third-place games are set for 2:30 p.m. Saturday, with the
championship games scheduled for 4:45 p.m.
Class 1A games will be played on Diamond No. 8; Class 2A games
will be played on Diamond No. 9; and Class 3A games will be played
on Diamond 7.
Admission each day will be $5 for adults and students in high
school. For seniors and students in grades K-8, admission will be
$2. On Saturday, fans will purchase wristbands at $5 and $2,
respectively, and use them for admission all day.
The state tournament series in baseball was a single-class affair
from 1955 to 1989, when the state series was divided into Class A
and Class AA competition. The two-class series ran for 16 years,
from 1990 to 2005. The three-class format was launched this year.
This year a total of 253 schools entered IESA baseball. The
breakdown of schools entering per class was 85 in Class 1A, 84 in
Class 2A and 84 in Class 3A. The enrollment range by class was 1-94
for Class 1A, 95-181 for Class 2A, and 182 and above for Class 3A.
IESA enrollments are the seventh- and eighth-graders in the member
schools.
The all-time records in baseball carry over. The Class A and
Class AA records have been retired. Records in Class 1A, Class 2A
and Class 3A will all be new this year.
Here is a look at the 2006 state tournament in each class:
Class 1A
Unbeaten Joliet St. Paul (20-0) heads a field of eight teams with
a combined won-loss record of 116-17, a sizzling winning percentage
of .872. St. Paul is the only unbeaten in Class 1A.
The combined enrollment of the eight teams in Class 1A is 518, an
average of 65 seventh- and eighth-graders per school. Peoria
Limestone Walters is the smallest at 42, and Joliet St. Paul is the
largest at 87. The others are Virginia, 50; Lincoln West Lincoln-Broadwell,
51; Springfield Christian, 65; Catlin, 71; Donovan, 74; and
Stewardson-Strasburg, 78.
The pairings are:
Friday
-
10 a.m. -- Donovan
(13-4) vs. Springfield Christian (17-4)
-
12:15 p.m. -- Catlin
(13-1) vs. Peoria Limestone Walters (14-1)
-
2:30 p.m. -- Virginia
(14-2) vs. Stewardson-Strasburg (13-4)
-
4:45 p.m. -- Joliet
St. Paul (20-0) vs. Lincoln West Lincoln-Broadwell (12-1)
[to top of second column] |
Saturday
-
10 a.m. -- Winner
game 1 vs. winner game 2; semifinal
-
12:15 p.m. -- Winner
game 3 vs. winner game 4; semifinal
-
2:30 p.m. -- Loser
game 5 vs. loser game 6; third place
-
4:45 p.m. -- Winner
game 5 vs. winner game 6; title
Class 2A
Unbeatens Bloomington Holy Trinity (16-0) and Carthage (18-0) are
in opposite brackets and lead a field of eight teams with a combined
won-loss record of 108-15, a blistering .878 winning percentage. Two
others -- Springfield Christ the King (12-1) and Chillicothe (16-1)
-- come in with only one loss. Those two are in the upper bracket
with Bloomington Holy Trinity, which finished second in last year's
Class A state tournament.
The combined enrollment of the eight schools in the Class 2A
field is 1,217, an average of 152. Smallest school in Class 2A is
Springfield Christ the King at 105, and the largest is Danville
Oakwood at 180. The others are Carthage, 131; Bloomington Holy
Trinity, 143; Tremont, 153; Sullivan, 158; Lockport Kelvin Grove,
169; and Chillicothe, 178.
The pairings are:
Friday
-
10 a.m. -- Tremont
(13-4) vs. Springfield Christ the King (12-1)
-
12:15 p.m. --
Bloomington Holy Trinity (16-0) vs. Chillicothe (16-1)
-
2:30 p.m. -- Carthage
(18-0) vs. Sullivan (11-3)
-
4:45 p.m. -- Lockport
Kelvin Grove (12-2) vs. Danville Oakwood (10-4)
Saturday
-
10 a.m. -- Winner
game 1 vs. winner game 2; semifinal
-
12:15 p.m. -- Winner
game 3 vs. winner game 4; semifinal
-
2:30 p.m. -- Loser
game 5 vs. loser game 6; third place
-
4:45 p.m. -- Winner
game 5 vs. winner game 6; title
Class 3A
The teams that finished in first, third and fourth place in last
year's final Class AA state tournament are among the eight finalists
in Class 3A. Minooka (22-1) won the Class AA title last year over
Stanford Olympia. Effingham Junior High School (19-8) beat Danville
North Ridge (14-0) for third place last year, and they are in
opposite brackets this year. East Peoria Central (23-2) also returns
from the Class AA field of 2005 and is in the lower bracket with
Danville North Ridge.
The eight teams in the Class 3A field have a combined won-loss
record of 143-22, a winning percentage of .867.
The combined enrollment of the eight teams in Class 3A is 3,931,
an average of 491 seventh- and eighth-graders per school. Smallest
is Pleasant Plains at 189, and the largest is Homer Glen Homer at
818. The others are Rochester, 344; East Peoria Central, 417;
Effingham Junior High School, 475; Danville North Ridge, 524;
Romeoville Martinez, 574; and Minooka, 590.
The pairings are:
-
10 a.m. -- Homer Glen
Homer (14-4) vs. Rochester (18-2)
-
12:15 p.m. --
Effingham JHS (19-8) vs. Minooka (22-1)
-
2:30 p.m. --
Romeoville Martinez (17-3) vs. Danville North Ridge (14-0)
-
4:45 p.m. -- Pleasant
Plains (16-2) vs. East Peoria Central (23-2)
Saturday
-
10 a.m. -- Winner
game 1 vs. winner game 2; semifinal
-
12:15 p.m. -- Winner
game 3 vs. winner game 4; semifinal
-
2:30 p.m. -- Loser
game 5 vs. loser game 6; third place
-
4:45 p.m. -- Winner
game 5 vs. winner game 6; title
[2006
IESA state baseball tournament]
[IESA
news release] |
