One year after placing third in state, Oak Park-River Forest has won its second consecutive conference title and earned the top seed at the Class 4A Loyola Sectional.
If the cliche that good pitching beats good hitting holds true, the Huskies are sitting pretty.
“If we’re having a bad offensive game, our pitching backs us up,” senior Connor Nelson said. “We have an unbelievably deep staff, and that can help us out in the playoffs.”
Oak Park (23-6, 14-4 through May 18) clinched the West Suburban Silver with a win over Proviso West on Wednesday, May 18. Coach Chris Ledbetter’s pitching staff has shined as the Huskies’ hitters have found their groove.
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“Our pitching has been really good. In a couple of our losses, our pitchers pitched the better game,” Ledbetter said. “We out-hit Loyola, (Lyons), Evanston and York but lost those games. So we’ve competed in every game but one this year.”
Hank Christie is 8-0 with only six runs given up this season, and the Huskies have also relied on Luke McMahon, Joe Cundari, Jack McMullen, Brendan Barrette and Roy Iverson.
“We have some studs,” McMullen said. “Hank is our undeniable ace, but we have a lot of senior leaders like Luke, Joe, and myself, and some really good juniors and sophomores.”
McMahon and Cundari also earned the distinction of pitching back-to-back no-hitters this year. McMahon’s 10-0 no-hitter in five innings against New Trier on Friday, May 13, featured 42 strikes in 47 pitches thrown.
McMahon’s first 19 pitches of the game were thrown for strikes.
“I’ve been at Oak Park for 16 years, and I know there have probably been pitchers who pitched in bigger games in the state tournament,” Ledbetter said. “But Luke pitched undeniably the best game I’ve ever seen out of a high school kid. And it was a no-hitter against one of the top programs in the state.”
An early-season tendency among hitters to pull every pitch has also diminished in time for the state playoffs.
“The game is already hard, and the kids were making it harder on themselves,” Ledbetter said. “But they’ve done a tremendous job of making adjustments since then.”
Chief among Oak Park’s hitters has been Dali Durazo, with a batting average hovering around .450. Nelson is batting .400 with 10 home runs after hitting none last season.
“I’ve had more power in the bat this year. Our coaches have helped me with my hand position, and I’m seeing the ball well this year,” Nelson said. “And Dali is the hottest hitter on the team. He uses all fields and he squares balls up left and right.”
Christie is also hitting well, Jeremy Gaines is seeing the ball well, and Evan Bell and Will Johnson are also heating up at the plate.
They were scheduled to open postseason play with a regional semifinal on Wednesday, May 25. The Huskies were happy to get a top sectional seed, though Ledbetter’s program is never too concerned with seeding.
“We know that if we play a quality brand of baseball, we’ll get a decent seed,” Ledbetter said. “But we certainly didn’t the play the season for a No. 1 seed. If you do that, you can get your team to peak a little earlier than I’m comfortable with.”
Gary Larsen is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press