The IHSA postseason is right around the corner and the Heyworth baseball team is sitting with a conference record over .500 in a tough conference and a 4 seed in the sectional. Some people think that the Hornets were underseeded but a tough home loss to Roanoke Benson and a one-run loss to Lexington. They have a chance at revenge against Lexington but first they have to get through the regional semifinal game. This matchup will likely be against LeRoy, a game in which the Hornets won on a walk-off by Lucas Garber. But let’s not look ahead yet because the Hornets still have a handful of games. Before we get started the St. Thomas More game will have already happened and hopefully, it will result in a Heyworth Hornet win.
Earlier in the week the Hornets took the trip to Peoria to take on the Chargers of Peoria Christian. Tyler Bartels went 3 for 3 with 3 RBIs in a win against the team that finished just one spot behind them in the sectional seeding. It wasn’t pretty but they got the job done. The week prior saw the Hornets play 5 straight road games and after winning the first one in a tough game against Tremont, Heyworth lost four straight. These losses included El Paso Gridley, Mahomet Seymour, Bloomington Central Catholic, and Lexington. The boys have already started to rebound and will hope to do so for the remaining week. On Wednesday the Hornets take on Cornerstone which could be an early preview for the regional semi-final. Thursday is senior night as we will be honoring our 5 seniors, Brady Wicklander, Tyler Wills, Tyler Bartels, Lucas Garber, and Cooper Johnson. We will thank them for their contributions to the Heyworth baseball program on that night. To round up the season the Hornets play at Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday in which we don’t know who they will play yet. Hopefully, that won’t be the last time they play on that field. The last regular season game will be at Duffy Bass Field as Heyworth will play the U-High Pioneers at 6 o'clock which hopefully will be played under the lights toward the later innings. This will give the Hornets a great challenge but regardless of the outcomes, this will wrap up one of the toughest schedules in all of 1A.
This week we interviewed Maddox Klawitter, who has high hopes like most of the Heyworth community, about how far the Hornets can go. Maddox says that he is up for the challenge even when going up against some great teams including Father McGivney, Mahomet Seymour, and soon-to-be U-High. He believes that the team is solid and all they need is to find consistency. “Our biggest weakness has been our consistency but overall we are a very solid baseball team”. He also feels that if they stick together like they have all year, the sky is the limit. “We have stuck together through tough times very well and I feel like if we can continue that then we can accomplish our goal”. Maddox is feeling hopeful on this run and we hope the boys can go right back to the sectional championship again.
With this concludes the Stinger for the school year. I just want to say that this writing has been so fun to do the entire year. From football to basketball to baseball we have made quality articles as a group. I want to thank Mr. Kirkton for putting the Stinger together because without it I wouldn’t be able to do this. I want to thank all the coaches that I have interviewed which included a coach from a school that is almost 2 hours away. I want to thank all the players that I have interviewed throughout the year because it means a lot to take out time out of your day just to answer questions. Lastly, I want to thank the people who read these articles and share them across platforms so that more and more people can see them. One of the biggest accomplishments of the Stinger was the football article vs LeRoy. We achieved over 400 views and saw many people from both schools reading the article. This couldn’t have been done without people sharing it so I want to say thank you one last time. With that I don’t really have much to say. I hope to write articles again next year during the football season but who knows? To conclude it all I just want to say thank you to everyone and we will be signing off for the last time this school year.
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