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USA Today
7 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Notre Dame pledge Mason Barth wins state baseball title
Notre Dame baseball commit Mason Barth is once again a state champion. The Andrean (Merrillville, IN) right-handed pitcher/shortstop struck out Jasper's A.J. Huelsman with the bases loaded for the final out Friday night to help his team capture the IHSAA Class 3A State Championship in Indianapolis. No. 1 Andrean scored two runs in the 6th inning and two more in the 7th before holding off Jasper in a 4-3 win at Victory Field in Indy. It is the ninth state title in program history for the 59ers. The powerhouse is 9-2 all-time in state championship games, with all nine titles coming within the last 20 years. The nine championships put the program in a tie with Lafayette Central Catholic for most all time. Andrean finished with a 31-3 record. The 5-foot-9, 195-pound Barth committed to Notre Dame in October 2022. Andrean head coach Dave Pishkur stated a few years back that Barth was the second-best freshman he's ever coached. Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (Formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions. Follow Dave on X: Miller_Dave
Chicago Tribune
19-06-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Andrean's Charlie Sollars loves ‘that adrenaline rush.' Just wait until the state championship game.
If the Class 3A state championship game is on the line on Friday, Andrean senior outfielder Charlie Sollars wants to be the one at the plate. The Lincoln Trail commit doesn't shy away from those high-pressure moments. He embraces them. 'I just love to compete,' Sollars said. 'That pressure you have sometimes when the bases are loaded and there's a 3-2 count … I love the feeling of that adrenaline rush.' Sollars could get his chance when the 59ers (30-3), who are ranked No. 1 in the 3A state coaches poll, play No. 7 Jasper (28-6) at Victory Field in Indianapolis at 7 p.m. Friday. They will try to win their ninth state title and first since 2022. Although Sollars pitched earlier this season, he has made most of his impact with his bat. He's hitting .357 with six doubles, one home run, a team-high 36 RBIs, 38 runs scored and 12 steals. Sollars was in the cleanup spot during Andrean's 4-0 win over NorthWood in the LaPorte Semistate championship game on Saturday. 'He's been a consistent offensive player the whole year,' Andrean coach Dave Pishkur said. 'He's a competitor, and he likes the moment, whatever that moment may be.' Sollars has had plenty of moments like that during his high school career, which included time as an outside linebacker on Andrean's football team. He had 71 tackles and two interceptions for the 2A semistate runner-up last season. Pishkur said Sollars sometimes approaches baseball like he's on a football field. 'You'd expect him, being a linebacker, to take some of that mentality onto the baseball field,' Pishkur said. 'He doesn't do it in baseball because it's a different sport, but in football he's a talker. If he makes a tackle, he might say something to you as well.' Sollars noted that he doesn't have as many opportunities to talk like that because he's in the outfield for half of the game. 'Football's a much more emotional sport,' he said. 'Baseball is more of a mental battle, so you try to keep your emotions to a minimum.' It can be a different story during practices, however. Sollars takes advantage of opportunities to be heard by his teammates. 'Any way to create competition in practice is a good thing,' he said. Andrean senior catcher Blake Kouder said Sollars has a knack for making practices feel like game situations. 'He can get on your nerves for sure,' Kouder said with a laugh. 'There's no harm intended with it, but sometimes during practices it can be hard to find that competition, so he just implements it himself.' Sollars implemented that in the weight room during the offseason too. 'It's more about flexibility rather than just heavy lifting,' he said. 'Instead of getting on the bench press and trying to lift as much as you can, it's about explosive movements and power, moving the weights as fast as I can to build up the smaller, faster-twitch muscles for baseball.' Kouder said Sollars savors any chance to compete. 'It just comes with his personality,' Kouder said. 'He's not a guy who's going to stand down to anybody. He's just competing with the guy on the mound, and he's not going to let them beat him.'
Chicago Tribune
16-05-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Arianna Vianello isn't ‘trying to be perfect' anymore. Without that pressure, she delivers for Whiting.
Whiting's Arianna Vianello saw the bigger picture. By taking a step back, the senior catcher took steps forward. 'This year, it's just my mentality,' Vianello said. 'I really got my head in order. Previous years, I was always trying to be perfect, and I always wanted to be perfect. This year, it's my last season, I don't plan to go further with softball, so I wanted to make the best of what I had left.' Indeed, in her fourth season as a starter, Vianello has delivered her most productive one yet. She's hitting .465 with four doubles, a triple, two homers, 23 RBIs and 20 runs scored, leading the Oilers in four of those categories. She has helped Whiting (6-9, 4-6), which will play either Andrean or Boone Grove in the semifinals of the Class 2A Boone Grove Sectional on May 27, double its total victories from last season and eclipse its wins in the Greater South Shore Conference. 'Ari's playing with a lot less pressure, and she's having fun and she's enjoying herself,' Whiting coach Kelly Morando said. 'This team has a very good team dynamic and camaraderie, and she feeds off of that, and all the girls feed off of that. 'She's been a great captain. Overall, she just doesn't have that pressure, and she wants to go out having fun, and it's showing.' Sophomore shortstop Lily Morando also noted Vianello's leadership skills for a team that includes Vianello's cousin Aliyah, a freshman. 'She really brings a voice to the team,' Lily Morando said. 'As one of the captains, you expect that. But it's more than that, and she really shows it on the field. She tells us not to get in our heads. She'll be the one still cheering in the dugout even if we're down by 10. She's just really a voice for us.' Vianello isn't anchored behind the plate. She has seen some time in the outfield this season, and she played mostly at third base as a freshman. 'I can count on her wherever we need her,' Kelly Morando said. 'She's going to track down the ball. She's going to get the ball in. She's going to be a solid position for us wherever she's needed. 'Even this year, she's flopped between catching and outfield here and there. She gives us some speed in the outfield.' Vianello prepares for any situation. 'I keep my mind super focused,' she said. 'When I go up to bat, I always keep my mechanics on the top of my head. When I'm behind the plate, I'm always thinking. I'm always thinking about what's coming next.' What's coming next for Vianello, who spends the first half of her school days studying cosmetology at the Hammond Area Career Center and works at a salon on the weekends as part of the program, is studying medical diagnostic sonography at IU Indianapolis. She received inquiries from multiple colleges about the possibility of playing, but she said, 'I think I'm done with softball.' She also played basketball and cheered throughout high school. She even played volleyball as a freshman. As the time remaining on this season dwindles, Vianello, who already was named the softball team's most valuable player as a sophomore and junior, is determined to continue maximizing it. 'It's definitely been my best year throughout my entire career of softball,' she said. 'Not even just our skill and playing-wise, but just our attitudes and our relationships together. 'As long as we keep our attitudes up and keep working as a team together, we can really accomplish anything.'
Chicago Tribune
08-05-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Andrean's Sadie Drousias prepared for this. ‘I've never pitched as much as I did in the offseason.' It shows.
Andrean junior Sadie Drousias lived in pitcher's circles during the offseason. Every minute that Drousias had available was devoted to preparing to be the 59ers' top pitcher this season after ace Abbey Bond graduated last year. 'In my entire life, I've never pitched as much as I did in the offseason from my sophomore year to my junior year,' Drousias said. 'Pretty much every day it was just pitching, pitching, pitching.' It's a role Drousias owns for Andrean (10-6, 4-4), which is in third place in the Northwest Crossroads Conference and hopes to make a postseason run after its Class 2A sectional semifinal exit last year. She's 6-4 in 57 innings of work, having already surpassed her 55 1/3 innings as a sophomore and her 56 1/3 innings as a freshman. With Bond pitching for Purdue Northwest, Drousias has taken the reins. 'I know she worked super hard in the offseason, and I'm really proud of the progress she's made,' Andrean coach Miranda Elish said. 'I don't think she pitched all that much before she came here, but she knew that was a possibility down the road in her career, she prepared for it and she's ready for it.' Drousias has also been a key part of the 59ers' offense. She's hitting .444 with five doubles and two home runs, and she's in a three-way tie for the team lead with 18 RBIs. She said a more selective approach at the plate has helped fuel her success there. 'I'm looking for the pitch that I want to hit,' she said. 'Those other years, I'd just swing at the first thing I saw.' Drousias knows batters will make contact against her too. Her work in the circle is more about placement than power. She has struck out just 45 this season. 'Some people are going to hit the ball,' she said. 'But if my spots are on point, then we should be able to get the routine plays that we need so we can go far.' It took some time for that message to get through to Drousias, according to junior shortstop Aubrey Grasha. They play on the same travel team, and Grasha said Drousias had to be convinced that she didn't need to strike out all 21 batters every game. 'She's taken a step back and is realizing that she doesn't have to put so much pressure on herself,' Grasha said. 'She's not a strikeout pitcher, so she's going to put balls in play, and her defense is going to go to work for her. We're not going to leave her out there by herself.' But Drousias is a fiery competitor. She's the youngest of four siblings, and the other three have played sports in college. Her older brothers Colton and Caleb are wrestlers, and her older sister Cydney plays softball at Lewis. 'I'd say I do feel some pressure because I'd be the only one who didn't,' Drousias said. 'So of course I feel like I have to get up there.' Elish isn't surprised. 'You can tell she's the youngest of four kids,' Elish said. 'She just fights, man — like any youngest sibling would. She fights hard.' That will carry Drousias forward, even after the huge leaps she has already made as a pitcher. 'From where I was last year, I feel like I've improved a ton,' she said. 'But there's always something you can do better.'
Chicago Tribune
01-04-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Andrean's PJ Cusick will take his biggest swing after golf season. He'll try to make the Purdue football team.
Golf has taught Andrean senior PJ Cusick that he can't let a few bad swings ruin his day. For Cusick, confidence is the key. 'You can have a bad warmup on the range before a match but still go out there and shoot under par,' he said. 'It's just believing in yourself that when the time comes, all of the things that I'm about to do are things I've done before — and I've done it well.' That self-belief will be important when Cusick, one of the kickers selected for the 59th annual Murat Shrine North/South Football All-Star Classic, takes his biggest swing later this year. Long after golf season has ended, Cusick will try to earn a roster spot on the Purdue football team as a walk-on. 'I know I have the skills for it,' he said. 'It's not in a cocky way or anything like that. But I firmly believe in myself with all of the training that I've had. I just have to go down there, perform to the best of my ability, and I think I'll have a good shot at it.' Cusick's next chance to kick in a game will be the North/South Football All-Star Classic at Decatur Central in Indianapolis on July 11. Recent selections from Andrean include linebacker Charlie Koeppen in 2023, running back Ryan Walsh in 2021, kicker JJ Wadas in 2020 and quarterback Zack Merrill in 2019. Cusick recalled the moment when he learned from Andrean football coach Chris Skinner that he had been picked for the North roster. 'I was walking into the school when I got the text from coach Skinner that I'd made the team, and I was ecstatic for it,' Cusick said. 'I'm really pumped to play in that game because there have been some big names that went to Andrean and played in those all-star games, so I look forward to being on that stage.' Cusick said golf has helped prepare him for kicking on big stages. He's one of the top returning players for the Andrean boys golf team this season. 'With golf, every shot isn't perfect, and you get a lot of mental strength from that,' he said. 'That's something I can carry over to kicking because you're getting minimal reps, so you have to make them count.' Cusick handled the kicking duties for the 59ers last season. He converted 28 of 30 extra-point attempts and 7 of 14 field-goal attempts with a long of 38 yards. He also had 35 touchbacks on 58 kickoffs and averaged 34.3 yards per punt. Cusick focused on kicking full time after having conversations with Skinner following his freshman season. Since then, Skinner has watched Cusick constantly work to improve his skills. 'It really comes down to his competitive nature as an individual,' Skinner said. 'There's never an end to golf. You can always get better. Kicking is the same way too. There's no point where you should stop wanting to make progress, and that speaks to what he's trying to do, to see how far he can take this.' Cusick said he's still kicking multiple times each week during golf season. For several years, he has been working with Chris Nendick, a Naperville, Illinois, native who kicked at Northern Illinois and then started training kickers. Nendick's clients have included Jake Elliott, who kicked four field goals for the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl in February. Nendick said Cusick has a chance to prolong his career. 'He's matured, he's gotten stronger and he's decided to put in the work,' Nendick said. 'You can have kids who kick a ball really far as a freshman or sophomore, but the kids who were working harder who weren't, those are the kids that will ultimately propel forward toward the tail end of their high school careers. PJ's on track for all of that at this point.'
