Just had to comment on this one. Today I watched Carmel Catholic High School v Mundelein High School in a Regional championship game here in Illinois. For those who don’t know, both schools are in Mundelein so it was a true cross-town rivalry.

The play on both sides was impressive. Lots of great defensive plays supporting strong pitching. Carmel was able to put a few more legitimate hits together, though, and ultimately won 2-0.

One of the great plays I saw was Mundelein pitcher Molly Ellett (one of my pitching studnets) fielding a suicide squeeze and getting the out at home. She also took on another bunt and got the out at first. Those were big outs.

On Carmel’s side, one of the memorable plays was shortstop Kathleen Felicelli fielding a ground ball that had first hit pitcher Nicole Bitter’s glove, grabbing it on the run and throwing for the out.

Have to admit I was proud of my hitting student Amy Abel as well. She hit a timely single for Carmel, and later laid down a perfect sac bunt (although I would’ve rather seen her swing away as she has had a hot bat lately).

Baserunning was good on both sides as well. I saw a couple of runners take advantage of balls in the dirt, aggressively taking the base even though the ball didn’t get far from the respective catchers. Each team was looking for every edge it could get.

The only shame was the way the game ended. Molly was rung up looking on a pitch that was clearly mid-shin high. I hate when that happens, but such is life.

Both teams are to be commended on a great game. I’ve seen a lot of badly played HS games this year, so it was fun to see such a good one. Congrats to both sides.