YHS Girls Soccer Team Gets Win No. 1 of Season

The Yorkville girls soccer team picked up its first victory of the season Saturday, beating Indian Creek, 4-0, in the DeKalb tournament.

Michelle Fabricino scored two goals, and Jenny Taptich scored a goal and had an assist for the Lady Foxes.

“They are a very resilient, hardworking group of young women, so it was good for them to get that first victory,” Yorkville coach Mike Jacobs said. “They earned every goal they scored against Indian Creek.”

It was a very busy and difficult week for the Lady Foxes, who were on the wrong end of a couple of blowouts during the week and lost a tough one-goal match before coming out on top against Indian Creek.

On Tuesday, Yorkville surrendered four goals in the first 10 minutes to a Geneseo squad that would ultimately win 9-0. Things were far more competitive against Streator on Thursday, but the Lady Foxes came up a bit short, dropping a 2-1 decision.

“Close losses are always difficult to deal with,” Jacobs said. “We played a tough game against Streator.”

The Lady Foxes lost 8-0 to DeKalb on Saturday before rebounding for the victory against Indian Creek.

Yorkville is now 1-6-1 on the season.

“We’re staring to do some of the little things right, like touches on the ball, looking twice before getting rid of it, and stuff like that. And it’s going to be huge for us,” Jacobs said. “As long as they keep playing hard, we’ll be OK. It’s not fun to lose, but these girls are going to do whatever they can to succeed.”

Weather Ruins Wulf

The Yorkville girls track and field team and boys track and field team had been looking forward to hosting the Matt Wulf Invitational on Friday, but windy, rainy and downright cold weather resulted in the cancellation of the meet.

The cancellation was disappointing for the two teams who had worked so hard all week in preparation. Both teams did compete on Tuesday night against Rochelle, but weeknight meets are generally a time where Coach Ben Draper will utilize his deep rosters to give plenty of kids an opportunity to complete.

Rochelle beat the boys 86-51 and the girls, 89-38.

“It was a chance to get everyone in, especially those who are trying to get a spot on varsity,” Draper said. “We like to use these weekday meets to let the JV, freshmen and sophomore kids shine, and that’s what we did against Rochelle.”

Kevin Cox had a tremendous day on Tuesday for the Foxes, winning the 100 dash with a 10.8, taking a close second in the 200 dash with a 22.4 and helping the 4x200 relay team win with a 1:32.2.

“He took it all very seriously and it showed,” Draper said. “He had an all-time best PR in the 200 even though he was edged at the very end. It was a very impressive day for him.”

In the mile, freshman Caleb Piszszek ran at the freshman/sophomore level but his 5:13 was the best score on the afternoon and would’ve won at the varsity level as Rochelle’s Frank Huftalin won with a 5:15.

“He’s only a freshman, so he’s got a very bright future,” Draper said. “He plays football too, but it would be great if we could also get him for cross country next fall.”

On the girls side, Draper was pleased with the performance from freshmen Tracy Krukowski and Vicki Granat. Freshmen Hunter Rennels and Kelsey Leedy didn't compete Tuesday, but Draper said they also are talented first-year competitors.

“They’re really talented, hardworking freshmen,” Draper said. “We have so many talented athletes willing to keep pushing in the 400.”

Alyssa Ybarra had a strong day in two field events for the Lady Foxes, winning the shot put with a 31-0 and taking second place in the discus with an 87-3.

Both teams are back in action on Tuesday at DeKalb. The girls will also compete on Thursday at Oswego while the boys will head to Kaneland on Saturday morning.

Lack of control costs YHS baseball team NIB-12 series to Morris

An inability to throw strikes made it difficult for the Yorkville to overcome Morris last week in a three-game Northern Illinois Big 12 series.

The Foxes outhit the Redskins in the opener on Monday, but lost the ballgame, 7-3. The Foxes allowed 7 men to reach base via base on balls and hit by pitch. The game was knotted at 3-3 but the Redskins pulled away with a 4-run bottom of the sixth inning.

In Game 2 on Tuesday, the Foxes got their bats going and blasted the Redskins 13-6, behind a 5-RBI effort for Luke Lucchetti who had 3 hits, including a 3-run homerun. Josh M. Cooper went 3-for-5 with a triple and 2 RBI. Alex King walked five, but thanks to the big offensive output by his team, was still able to get the win.

During the rubber game on Wednesday, the Foxes once again struggled with location, walking 10 Redskins. The Foxes only trailed 3-2 after three innings, but the Redskins erupted for 7 runs in the fourth inning.

“That was the only game this season where I felt we were out of,” Yorkville coach Scott Luken said. ”We were still in it early but once they scored 7 times it felt like it would be too much to overcome.”

The Foxes will need to limit the base on balls if they hope to have better success this spring.

“They need to get ahead in the count so they can mix it up,” Luken said. “These are quality guys, but they’re struggling to get ahead. And when you go down 2-0 against good hitters, that’s tough.”

Offensively the Foxes continue to put runners on base, although Luken had the team working on bunting and hitting the other way during practice on Thursday and Friday. Through April 17, Lucchetti and Tanner Cook were both hitting .467.

“We’re stressing that we need to do a better job of moving runners into scoring position and more small ball,” Luken said.

The Foxes attempted to play a non-conference game against former Western Sun Conference foe Geneva on Saturday at Elfstrom Stadium in Geneva but with the wind chill at 27 degrees and a mix of rain and snow picking up in the first inning, the game was called with the Foxes leading 2-0 in the bottom of the first. Stephen Toma fanned two in one inning of work. Lucchetti singled and scored and Cooper had an RBI single.

“It’s unfortunate, but it was still a good experience for the kids,” Luken said. “We had a window from about 12 to 2 p.m., but by the time we got the tarp off and field prepped it was 2 o’clock.”

The teams will try to reschedule but it will likely be difficult with conference play now underway.

A three-game series against Rochelle begins Monday in Yorkville.

Yorkville to Retire Eric Miller’s Number on April 25

Prior to the Monday, April 25, game against Kaneland, the Yorkville athletic department will retire longtime coach Eric Miller’s number. The ceremony is scheduled for approximately 4 p.m. First pitch will be at 4:30 p.m.

Lady Foxes Fall to Morris and DeKalb in Softball Action

The Yorkville girls softball team’s rally on Tuesday against Morris in Northern Illinois Big 12 action came up short. On Thursday against DeKalb, there wasn’t any rally at all whatsoever as the Lady Foxes were painfully introduced to one of the state’s best new pitchers.

The Lady Foxes loaded the bases in the top of the 7th inning on Tuesday against Morris but after fouling off several pitches, Tara Young struck out with the tying and go-ahead runners on base.

“We had 10 hits in that game, but we just came up short,” Yorkville coach Kathi Dockstader said.

Stephanie Miller homered in the loss while Young and Cacey Maciejewski both had two hits.

On Thursday, the Lady Foxes were the latest victim of DeKalb freshman hurler, Katie Kowalski. Allison Haskins broke up Kowalski’s bid for another no-hitter in the sixth inning, but there was little to be excited about for the Lady Foxes.

Kowalski, whose arsenal includes a screwball, drop curve, rise ball and drop ball, along with the customary fastball and changeup, has thrown two no-hitters this season and is 9-0 for undefeated DeKalb (13-0).

After some inconsistencies at the plate recently, the Lady Foxes are refocusing on fundamentals. They practiced indoors on hitting and were scheduled to do it again on Monday.

“They’ve asked to practice inside so we can work on fundamentals and we will do that again,” Dockstader said. “They need to reinforce some of the things they’ve been struggling with and it’s a lot easier to do inside when you’re not freezing your butt off.”

Yorkville takes a 7-6 record into Tuesday’s game against Kaneland. The Lady Foxes will face Plainfield East on Wednesday and Sterling on Saturday.

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