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Losses piled up early in the season for the Sycamore girls soccer team, but senior Lauren Miller could see progression along the way.

DeKALB – Two years ago, the DeKalb softball team had one heck of a run in Class 4A.

Genoa-Kingston baseball lost to Wheaton Academy, 6-0, in the Class 3A Burlington Central Regional quarterfinals on Monday, ending the Cogs’ season.

SYCAMORE – Down to the final strike in the Sycamore softball team's Class 3A Sycamore Regional quarterfinal game against Hampshire and trailing by a run, three words ran on repeat through Sycamore junior Taylor Jones' head as she stood at the plate in the bottom of the seventh.

The Sycamore softball team defeated Hampshire, 9-8, on a walk-off. All photos by Rob Winner – rwinner@shawmedia.com

Statistical analysis has led to changes for the Sycamore baseball team.

Hiawatha defeated Alden-Hebron, 3-2, in nine innings to capture the team's first regional title since 2008.

BIG ROCK – A few weeks before the Hiawatha baseball team made program history by winning their first regional championship, Hiawatha baseball coach Sean Donnelly gathered his team in a classroom before practice and pulled up a video.

CHARLESTON – Jasmine Brown stepped off the podium at the IHSA State Track Meet for the last time in her high school career.

CHARLESTON – Danielle Neisendorf is in a pretty good position heading into today’s Class 2A state high jump final.

ROCHELLE – The Kaneland girls soccer team owned the momentum in overtime of Friday's IHSA Class 2A Rochelle Regional championship match against Rosary.

STERLING – Logan Wright didn’t take too much comfort in the fact that he had made the qualifying height for high jump earlier in the season.

SYCAMORE – The nervous feeling was a familiar one for the Sycamore girls soccer team as the minutes ticked by in the second half of the dead-locked Class 2A Sycamore Regional championship. 

DeKalb’s Marc Dubrick earned his first berth to the state track meet next weekend by finishing fifth in the 3,200-meter run in 9 minutes, 26.93 seconds in the Class 3A Huntley Sectional on Friday. His time was two seconds better than the state qualifying mark.

Highlights from the Sycamore girls soccer team's Class 2A Sycamore Regional championship win against Burlington Central. All photos shot by Monica Maschak - mmaschak@shawmedia.com.

When Emily Schilling first approached Indian Creek girls soccer coach Luke Anderson and track coach Dane Bell about doing both sports last spring, the two coaches decided to do something unusual.

Genoa-Kingston softball swept Harvard in a double-header to complete its regular season with a record of 17-6 overall and 8-4 in the Big Northern Conference East.

DeKALB – Marc Dubrick was never lacking for motivation in the final sports season of his high school career.

DeKALB – DeKalb softball coach Jeff Davis’s confidence hasn’t waned.

DeKALB – On DeKalb’s first prime scoring chance against St. Charles North, the Barbs converted.

SYCAMORE – The opportunities had certainly been there, coming from a variety of angles, but each – whether sailing too high or just wide – had missed the mark.

BIG ROCK – Hinckley-Big Rock pitcher Dutch Schneeman fired a high fastball with his final pitch of the game.

GENOA – When Christina Sommerfeld came to Indian Creek from DeKalb as a sophomore, she never thought she’d be on a soccer team team as successful as the 2013 Timberwolves, which won the first regional championship in program history last week.

Editor's Note: This is the second story in a three-part series on pitching in high school and college baseball.

The DeKalb baseball team lost to Yorkville, 10-3, on Tuesday. The win gave Yorkville the outright Northern Illinois Big 12 East title as the Barbs fell to 11-16 overall and 5-10 in the conference. Sycamore finished a game behind Yorkville at 10-5 in conference.

Lauren Zick can deal with the pain that comes with a grueling track and field workout.

LISLE – Neither junior Andrea Binkley nor coach Paul Taeuber could put their finger on why Hinckley-Big Rock’s girls soccer team didn’t play up to its potential Tuesday night.

Former Sycamore, NIU star joins up with San Francisco

A few games from this season stick out as head-scratchers in the mind of Hinckley-Big Rock girls soccer coach Paul Taeuber, including a loss to Timothy Christian early in the season.

DeKalb baseball is hoping to get in a groove during the last week of the regular season as the Barbs defeated Sterling, 10-3, in a Northern Illinois Big 12 crossover game.

DeKALB – DeKalb softball coach Jeff Davis knows that opposing teams may be scouting the Barbs late in the season as the playoffs near, looking for any small piece of information to give them an edge in the postseason.

In 2008, Ashley Tamraz watched Hiawatha’s postseason run from the stands.

Starting pitching determines momentum in baseball.

DeKalb girls soccer won its first playoff game with a 3-0 victory over Elgin in the Class 3A DeKalb Regional quarterfinals.

HINCKLEY – A season ago the Hinckley-Big Rock girls soccer team saw their season end in a most shocking fashion with a overtime loss in the regional finals.

The Indian Creek girls soccer team defeated Genoa-Kingston, 1-0, in overtime Friday to win the Class 1A Genoa-Kingston Regional championship match.

SYCAMORE – A few weeks ago, Sycamore baseball coach Jason Cavanaugh predicted there would be a time when his team’s surprisingly effective pitching would go through a tough stretch, and its unexpectedly poor hitting would need to carry the load.

BURLINGTON – In the first running final of the Class 2A Burlington Central Sectional on Friday, Sycamore saw its 3,200-meter relay fall just short of state.

Tristan Draper wasn’t fazed when she took her first loss in the second round of the Naperville North Sectional badminton tournament.

The DeKalb girls soccer team earned a 1-0 victory over Sycamore on Thursday.

SPOTLIGHT ON ...

When DeKalb girls soccer coach Phil Rouse found out his team was moved up to Class 3A this season, he knew the Barbs’ regional would be difficult, but he thought they would play north suburban and Rockford-area teams, like they usually do.

BELVIDERE – Kelsey Schrader could sense her form breaking down in the last few laps of the 3,200-meter race in the Class 3A Belvidere North Sectional on Thursday.

DeKALB – Dre Brown thought dreams of qualifying for the state meet in the 4x200 might be over after last year’s sectional meet, at least for a few years.

It all came together for Brianna Kramer on Monday at the Big Northern Conference girls track meet.

DeKalb seniors Kelli Cardine and Savannah Ricker have been playing together for the past four years.

GENOA – When Genoa-Kingston forward Viviana Beltran came out of Wednesday's Class 1A Genoa-Kingston Regional semifinal with two minutes left, there wasn't much else she could do.

Spartans’ bad timing: Sycamore needed a win Tuesday against Yorkville to wrap up the Northern Illinois Big 12 East conference title.

The Kaneland girls soccer team beat Sycamore, 1-0, as the Knights got a first-half goal from Kiandra Powell off an assist from Courtney Diddell for the only score.

The biggest issue for Genoa-Kingston senior Danielle Neisendorf coming into this season was her health.