Sunday Slam: Mid-Suburban League Aging Gracefully, Successfully at 60th Anniversary
Barrington American Legion Baseball Finishes 2-2 in Regional; Tauchman Achieves Cubs/Fremd History; Hersey's Harris Hits First Triple-A Homer
A few years ago I ran into Jason Mead at Palatine’s Ed Molitor Thanksgiving basketball tournament. I’ve known the family for about 20 years since Jason and his brothers Bryan and Luke played basketball in the Mid-Suburban League at Hoffman Estates, although Jason would likely be very self-deprecating about his “playing” days since he saw minimal time on the court in games.
Jason turned out to be a tremendous coach at Dixon and Waubonsie Valley. When we saw each other we talked about how everything was going early in a successful tenure at Waubonsie.
Then I asked him, “What the heck conference are you guys in now?”
He laughed and said Waubonsie was in the DuPage Valley, which was vastly different from what it had once been. Waubonsie had ended a long run in the Upstate 8 Conference in 2014. I was also probably confused by thinking it might be in the relatively new DuKane Conference.
And this discussion was in a gym where you could look up and see the same old MSL banners you’ve seen for decades. Because the more things have changed elsewhere the more they have stayed the same in the MSL as it celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.
Think about how crazy this week has been in college sports. It’s becoming the equivalent of an Abbott & Costello routine.
Who’s in the Big Ten?
What’s happened to the Pac-12?
I don’t know who’s in the SEC, Big 12 or ACC?
Yes, big-time college sports are totally different from high schools. But Chicago area and Illinois high schools have hardly been immune to conference hopping, overhauls and in some cases disappearing from the landscape. Football and the drive to get 5 wins to make the playoffs has played a big role. There were also cases of schools leaving established leagues because other members couldn’t field teams in all sports or at all the sub-varsity levels.
You don’t need a scorecard to tell who the players are in the 12-team MSL. The last addition to the league was Barrington in 1977. The only subtractions were from the school closings of Arlington in 1984 and Forest View in 1986. The combination of stability, proximity and history makes it something special.
Prospect is the only charter member left from the group of six that started in the MSL in 1963 (Maine West, Forest View, Deerfield, Glenbrook South and Glenbrook North). As one would figure the big constant of the league in its formative years was change as schools opened with the population boom in the northwest suburbs and others departed for the Central Suburban League.
Palatine arrived from the North Suburban Conference in 1965. Arlington seemed like a perfect fit and joined the MSL in 1966. But its addition wasn’t without some public parental concerns (yes, those existed before the Internet and social media) about the level of competitiveness if it left the more established West Suburban Conference, where it had been a member since 1951.
Glenbard North had a brief and relatively unsuccessful five-year stint (1968-72) in the MSL. School openings led to a split into North and South divisions in 1970 and started a tradition that also makes the league special and unique. The championship games between division champions in sports like basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball and softball became showcase events.
How much do those games matter to kids who grew up dreaming of playing in them? One year Hersey and Elk Grove met in the final game of the MSL East boys basketball schedule to determine the division champion and MSL title game representative. Hersey was fouling and furiously trying to score in the final seconds with the lead in what turned out to be an unsuccessful attempt to achieve a point-differential tiebreaker. At least the Huskies got a trophy for sharing the MSL East crown.
The 2003 MSL East baseball race was so crazy it came down to the final day and ended in an unprecedented four-way tie. What may have been even crazier was the Prospect team bus driving by Rec Park in Arlington Heights with players and coaches cheering in appreciation to often bitter rival Rolling Meadows for pulling off an extra-inning win that gave the Knights the tiebreaker to play in the league’s title game.
I would love to see football bring back the Super Bowls on an annual basis. It was discontinued after the 1974 season, the same year the IHSA started the state playoffs, and the MSL wanted to ensure both division champions qualified for what was only an 80-team field. The Super Bowl was resurrected for the COVID-shortened 2021 spring season and could definitely come back under the current 256-team playoff structure, but that’s a story for another day.
Now, it’s not as if the MSL didn’t have to consider dealing with possible additions or subtractions. There were rumblings of Elk Grove and Hoffman Estates leaving when they were struggling in football. Lake Park was a school frequently mentioned for expansion. Legendary Herald prep writer Keith Reinhard wrote a column about Libertyville possibly joining the league in the 1980s.
The MSL could have suffered a middle-age crisis when it underwent one of its most significant changes and realigned in 1998 to put all six District 214 schools in the East division and all five District 211 schools and Barrington in the West division. Some coaches and administrators thought the change might result in each division going their separate ways. Fortunately that didn’t happen as realignment heightened rivalries and interest between schools that didn’t always compete against each other annually under the North-South format.
When I was working at the Peoria Journal Star in the late 1980s, there were two well-established leagues in the Peoria metro area in the Mid-State 10 and Mid-Illini. I thought it would be pretty cool to be able to cover an entire league like those and fortunately that came to fruition where the entire MSL was under our coverage roof at the Daily Herald.
The Mid-Illini is still around but the Mid-State 10 - which at the time included six high schools in the city of Peoria, Pekin and three Springfield public schools - saw teams leave, schools close and a tradition-rich league ultimately dissolve about 10 years ago. Plenty of other conferences have radically changed or disappeared in the Chicago area and Illinois.
A lack of change has been great for the Mid-Suburban League as it celebrates its 60th anniversary.
Barrington American Legion Finishes 2-2 in Regional
Barrington’s American Legion baseball team tried to battle all the way back from losing its opener in the Great Lakes Regional but was eliminated with a 9-2 loss Saturday afternoon to host Midland (Mich.) and finished its season at 28-9.
Head coach Nate Gray’s team also lost to Midland 3-2 to start the double-elimination eight-team tournament but responded with a 16-5 win in 5 innings over Lafayette (Ind.) and a dramatic 2-1 win over Janesville (Wis.).
The opener saw Midland take a 3-0 lead but only 1 run was earned in 6 innings off Barrington’s Ryan Oztekin. Danny Hoffman went 2-for-4 and Barrington’s rally fell short on a Noah Rasmussen RBI groundout in the sixth and Dillon Fitzpatrick scoring on a wild pitch in the seventh after a two-out triple.
Barrington came back to rout Lafayette as winner Jackson Kanak had 6 strikeouts in 5 innings. Brendan Beals and Connor Fitzpatrick had 2 hits and an RBI, Hoffman had 3 RBI and Connor Fitzpatrick and Dylan Provenzano had 2 RBI.
Nick Lacson looked as if he would suffer a tough-luck loss in a Friday elimination game when Janesville broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth. Lacson had an infield single in the seventh, Patrick Podlesnik singled with two outs and after an intentional walk to load the bases, Barrington went ahead when Liam Shackleton reached on a fielder’s choice and Beals walked. Lacson retired the side in order in the bottom of the seventh to finish a 7-hitter with 4 strikeouts and no walks.
But after Barrington scored in the top of the first Saturday on Dillon Fitzpatrick’s RBI single, Midland answered with 3 runs en route to a 9-1 lead after 4 innings. Rasmussen had 2 of the 4 hits for Barrington.
Midland and Cedar Rapids (Iowa) play for the regional title Sunday and a berth in the American Legion World Series on Aug. 10-15 in Shelby, N.C.
Tauchman Continues Big Summer
Fremd graduate Mike Tauchman continues to play a big part in the Cubs’ resurgence with spectacular catches in center field and big hits. Last week, his 4 RBI in a rout of Cincinnati was the most by a Fremd product for the Cubs as Todd Hundley had 3 RBI in a game four times in 2000-01.
Tauchman is the sixth MSL product to play for the Cubs along with Hundley, slugging OF Dave Kingman (Prospect), C Tom Lundstedt (Prospect), P Dave Otto (Elk Grove), C Josh Paul (Buffalo Grove). Mike Quade (Prospect) also was a coach and manager on the North Side.
Harris Hits First Triple-A Homer
Hersey product Brett Harris hit his first Triple-A homer for the A’s Las Vegas affiliate on Thursday night against Albuquerque. Harris is hitting .250 in 15 games and 56 at-bats for Vegas since he was called up in mid-July. He hit .283 with 5 homers and 48 RBI in 69 games at Double-A Midland (Texas).
Big Fox Valley Friday in MLB
It likely doesn’t happen often that two pitchers from the same high school conference are starting in the major leagues on the same day. Friday night was a big spotlight moment for the Fox Valley Conference as McHenry’s Bobby Miller started for the Dodgers in San Diego and Cary-Grove’s Quinn Priester started for the Pirates in Milwaukee.
Both pitchers came away with no decisions as their teams won. Miller allowed 6 hits and 1 earned run with 1 walk and 3 strikeouts in 3⅔ innings as the Dodgers rallied late for a 10-5 victory. Priester went 4 innings with 5 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks and 3 strikeouts as the Cubs got some help with the Pirates beating the Brewers 8-4.
Miller, the Dodgers’ first-round pick in 2020 out of Louisville, is 6-2 with a 4.26 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 63 ⅓ innings over 12 starts. Priester, the Pirates’ first-round pick in 2019 out of Cary, is 2-1 with an 8.69 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 19⅔ innings.
Mundelein’s Ryan Borucki also continued his solid work on the mound since he joined the Pirates. Borucki threw a scoreless inning Friday and is 1-0 with a 2.79 ERA, 20 strikeouts and a 0.83 WHIP in 17 games and 19⅓ innings.