Robbinsdale Cooper's Brenna Walek goes deep four times and drives in nine runs in 17-0 victory; Chicago may be home to nation's top fifth-grade basketball talent.
Robbinsdale Cooper (New Hope, Minn.) slugger Brenna Walek took “ball one” on her first at-bat during a softball doubleheader against Fridley.
On the next four pitches she saw, however, the sophomore third baseman hammered home runs over the fence – and drove in nine runs - as the Hawks romped to a 17-0 victory in the five-inning opener. One went to left field, two to center and one to right.
Her four homers produced a Minnesota state record and were just one short of the national record set in 1977 by Janet Weisenforth of Heatly (Green Island, N.Y.).
Brenna Walek, Robbinsdale Cooper (New Hope, Minn.)
<center>Photo by Jackie LaPointe</center>
Fridley coach Amanda Yurek explained why Walek sprayed her home runs all over the field when she pointed out, “We actually tried to intentionally-walk her on her last two home runs, but she got hold of them. They were good swings – all legitimate home runs.”
Yurek’s pitcher apparently didn’t throw far enough outside in the first game, but in the second game she ordered four intentional walks which were executed perfectly. She was pitched to on her final trip to the plate and responded with a sharp single during a 10-0, seven-inning victory.
The powerful 5-foot-8 third baseman is batting .450 through 13 games with 14 runs, four doubles, five home runs and she has driven in 17. As a freshman first baseman, the right-handed hitting Walek batted .362 with 14 runs, five doubles, four homers and she drove in 27.
Robbinsdale Cooper coach Erin Brown believes Walek was “under the radar” as a freshman, even though she won the Hawks’ “Feared Hitter Award.” After her break-out performance, though, she’s going to be a marked player, Brown concedes.
Brown credits her emerging star’s success from doing “so much work in the off-season. She has a facility in her garage and spends a lot of time working on her swing.”
Yurek sees a bright future for Walek, calling her hitting ability “on a whole different level. She could play on the Division I (college) level.”
* Our Lady of Good Counsel (Olney, Md.) freshman sensation Tori Finucane struck out 28 and scattered three hits during a 1-0, 12-inning victory over St. Mary’s Ryken. She has yielded only two earned runs in 91 innings and fanned 186. Losing pitcher Stephanie Dameron struck out 15 and allowed just four hits.
* Archbishop Spalding (Severn, Md.) junior Emily Weiman struck out 18 during a two-hit, 3-0 victory over Mount de Sales. The most mind boggling statistic: only four of her pitches were not strikes.
* Sunny Hills (Fullerton, Calif.) nipped Fullerton High, 1-0, in a double no-hitter. Yolanda Rios was the winning pitcher, while Lindsey Rains was the hard-luck loser. The only run scored on two errors in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Barons are home school champs
The Greater Gwinnett Christian Barons nipped the Dallas Angels (Texas), 7-6, in nine innings to win their fourth consecutive Home School World Series baseball championship in Auburndale, Fla. The 24-team field drew entries from 10 states. The Georgia-based Barons (36-8) are coached by former Chicago White Sox farmhand Kevin Renz, who has won eight of the last 11 tournaments.
Senior center fielder and cleanup hitter David Lockwood doubled in the winning run, finishing the series with 9-for-20 and six RBIs. The 6-1, 190-pounder earned the Barons’ MVP honors by hitting .464 for the season, slamming seven home runs and driving in 46 runs on 51 hits. He will attend Covenant Christian College in Chattanooga, Tenn.
* Maine’s record 50-game baseball winning streak was broken when three-time defending Class A champion Deering (Portland, Maine) bowed to city foe Cheverus (Portland, Maine), 5-4, in an error-filled season opener.
* Platte Valley Academy (Shelton, Neb.) junior Tyler Peitzmeier struck out 16 with no walks during a 5-1 victory over Omaha Roncalli.
* Milestone victories: Tim Broskie of Whetstone (Columbus, Ohio) posted his 300th career win, while Dennis Markiewicz of Garfield Heights (Garfield Heights, Ohio) notched No. 200.
* Ray Swisher is retiring as head baseball coach at Ripley (Ripley, W. Va.). He has won over 600 games and two state titles during his 35-year career.
USA’s best 5th grader?
Chicago fifth grader Jaylin Fleming already is well known by the likes of Chicago Bulls basketball star Derrick Rose, who told the Chicago Tribune, “He’s better than me. His talent is one of a kind. He does moves that a grown-up does.”
St. Joseph (Westchester, Ill.) coach Gene Pingatore says that the 5-foot-1 guard reminds him of Isiah Thomas. He ought to know because he coached Thomas in high school. Stay tuned.
* Bowman Academy (Gary, Ind.) stars Tyrae Robinson (6-2) and Christopher Bond (6-4) both have signed with Ball State University. Bond averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Class A state champs, while Robinson averaged 15 points and four assists.
* The Charleston Daily Mail reports that Wake Forest University has a commitment from 6-3 junior guard Chase Fischer, who averaged 32 points for Ripley High and led the state of West Virginia in scoring.
Michigan offers 8th grade girl
The University of Michigan has offered a basketball scholarship to Superior (Wis.) Middle School eighth grader Hailey Kontny, according to the Superior Telegram.
* Bishop McGuinness (Kernersville, N.C.) junior guard Megan Buckland has made a commitment to the University of North Carolina, according to the Winston-Salem Journal. She averaged 20 points, 7.9 rebounds and 4.6 assists for the Class A state champions.
* New York’s St. Michael Academy (New York, N.Y.), which is closing this spring, will send its talented underclass girls basketball squad to Brooklyn Nazareth in the fall, according to the New York Post.
Ryan Crouser breaks foot
Barlow (Gresham, Ore.) junior Ryan Crouser broke a bone in his left foot while throwing the discus during a Friday practice. The Oregonian reports that the state shot put record holder is expected to have surgery this week and will miss the rest of the track season.
* Morristown (Morristown, N.J.) superstar Nick Vena set a national junior-class record in the shot put with a heave of 72-10 ½ during the NJAC large-school track meet. It also is No. 5 all-time.
* Palm Beach Lakes (West Palm Beach, Fla.) senior Eddie Lovett broke a 20-year old state record and ran a national season-best time of 13.46 to win the 110-meter hurdles at Florida’s Class 3A state track meet. He will attend the University of Florida.
Illinois fishing champs
Illini West (Carthage, Ill.) boated a two-day bass total of 30 pounds, five ounces to win the championship during Illinois’ second annual State Fishing Tournament on Carlyle Lake.
Senior Travis Wilson landed a five-pound, two-ounce bass on the second and final day to “put us over the top,” according to coach Harold Northup. He caught six of the team’s 10 fish.
Bradley-Bourbonnais (Bradley, Ill.) sophomore Jack Waldschmidt landed the tourney’s biggest bass, which weighed in at five pounds, 13 ounces.
Chicago Sun-Times correspondent Dale Bowman told MaxPreps that Edwardsville freshman Dalton Wesley - who stands just five-feet tall and weighs 80 pounds - stole the show by landing two four-pound bass on the final day. Coach Jared Marshall added that Wesley also landed the biggest bass (over five pounds) in sectional competition.
Potpourri
* Alcoa (Alcoa, Tenn.) running back JaRon Toney is going to walk on next fall at the University of Tennessee, according to the Knoxville News-Sentinel. The 5-9, 165-pounder had no Division I scholarship offers despite rushing for 2,358 yards and a state-record 50 touchdowns as a senior.
* The Orlando Sentinel reports that Winter Park (Winter Park, Fla.) junior Nate Winters - who has made a brilliant comeback as a baseball pitcher with a prosthetic leg – has received a special invitation and will travel to Rome, Italy in June to meet Pope Benedict XVI.
* USA figure skating champion Rachael Flatt, a senior at Cheyenne Mountain (Colorado Springs, Colo.), will attend Stanford University to study engineering in the fall of 2011, according to the Denver Post.
