Ridgewood Roundup

Spartans Season Ends at Sectional Semifinal

Both the Ridgewood Spartans and the Peru St. Bede Bruins slugged it out for nine innings but in the end, even in a great game like the two teams played Tuesday, May 24th, someone had to lose. With two outs and runners on second and third a Bruin single to shortstop was enough to score the winning run and end the best season the Ridgewood Spartans have had in the program’s history with the 4-3 loss.

St. Bede got on the scoreboard first with a pair of singles to take a 1-0 early lead over the Spartans and starting pitcher Mya Brown. Ridgewood rebounded in the top of the fourth inning starting with a walk by Becca Lindsey. Back to back singles from Hallica Warren Anderson and Brook Jones to put the Spartans up 3-1.

St. Bede began to chip away at the Ridgewood lead with a run in the fifth and tied the game on a passed ball in the bottom of the sixth. A scoreless seventh inning sent the game into extra innings. Both teams had chances in the eighth inning but both defenses managed to hold, sending the game into the ninth inning. Gabi Dean led off the ninth for Ridgewood with a single but the next three Spartans went down in order setting up the bottom of the ninth and the walkoff win by the Bruins.

The Spartans were limited to just three hits in the game, singles by Gabi Dean along with Warren Anderson and Jones. Spartan ace Mya Brown was true to form, striking out fifteen Bruins while allowing nine hits and just two walks throughout all nine innings..

The Spartans ended their season with twenty five wins and just six losses. However with just two seniors in the starting lineup, it is safe to say the Spartans will be back next year stronger than ever.

Spartans State Results

Aaron Gottardt and Fernando Avila-Rubio made the trek down to the Eastern Illinois University campus over two days to compete in the IHSA Class 1A State Track Meet. Gotthardt, a senior at Cambridge High School had his preliminary round in the triple jump on Thursday, May 26th. Avila-Rubio’s event, the 3200m run took place on Saturday morning, May 28th.

Gotthardt’s first jump on Thursday was his best jump of the day. He leapt 12.25 meters finishing nineteenth overall and missing the state finals by less than half of a meter. The winner of the triple jump posted a distance of 13.44 meters, Keagan Newton of Stark County was the highest finisher in Class A in the area taking fifth place with a jump of 13.15 meters.

Avila-Rubio, a sophomore at AlWood High School toed the line for the 3200 meter run on Saturday morning. He finished the two mile course in 10:46 to finish 26th out of the field of twenty-nine runners. The winning time was 9:15 from a runner from Lycee Francais de Chicago.