Vikings Sports Roundup: Baseball, Softball End Seasons in Regional Finals

Boys Track and Field: Seniors Devonier Casey (400-meter) and Zheng Fang (110-meter hurdles) earned All-State honors at the state finals last weekend. Casey ran 48.17 seconds in the finals to take fourth place while Fang finished in 14.79 to take eighth.

Kosta Papazoglou was the only other Viking to make it to the finals, finishing 15th in the 3,200 (9 minutes, 31.02 seconds). Casey also took 11th in the triple jump with a mark of 44 feet, 1.75 inches.  

Ethan Velasquez (pole vault) and Montreal Sykes (triple jump) didn’t qualify for Saturday’s finals after they competed in the preliminaries. Velasquez cleared 13 feet in the pole vault while Sykes’ best jump was 41 feet, 3 inches.

Fang missed out on the finals of the 300 hurdles after running 39.35 in the preliminaries.  

Baseball: As the section’s No. 12 seed, Niles North knew it would have a tough road to a regional championship when it was placed in the same bracket as No. 1 seed Leyden.  

The Vikings outplayed their seed, garnering an 8-5 victory over No. 8 seed Von Steuben in the regional semifinal. Jay Dwyer had two RBIs and Clark Fox contributed two RBIs for the Vikings.  

But Leyden was too tough in the final, beating the Vikings 10-0 on Memorial Day. Leyden scored seven runs in the fifth to close out Niles North in five innings. The Vikings finished the season with a record of 15-22.  

Volleyball: Niles North played one of its best games of the season in the regional final, but it wasn’t enough against Hersey as the Vikings lost 25-16, 24-16, 25-22.

The Vikings had a lead late in the third game but couldn’t hold on. Andre Shaw led Niles North with 17 kills and Hershel Patt contributed 10 kills. Jason Persaud had 17 digs.

Niles North defeated Maine West 25-12, 25-19 in the regional semifinals on May 24 to set up the showdown with Hersey.

Softball: After winning a tight game against Evanston 4-3, Niles North couldn’t get past Lane Tech in the regional final, falling 7-5.

The Vikings had rallied back after they were down 3-0 to Evanston, but couldn’t muster one more comeback. Niles North finished the season at 22-13.

As a sophomore, Kristin Reichert led the team with enormous offensive numbers. The first baseman and outfielder clubbed seven home runs and drove in 49 runs. She was voted to the All-Conference team.

Tennis: Sophomore Dave Bacalla went 4-2 at the state tournament last weekend. Bacalla won his first two matches before falling in the third round to Notre Dame’s Ian Hinkamper.

The Niles North tennis star rebounded to win his next two matches in the consolation bracket–including a three-set win over Glenbrook North’s Brian Levitas--but lost to Stevenson’s Jeremy Bush 6-2, 6-2 in the sixth round.