The Beecher ace pitcher did her best standup routine Saturday when asked if she has had a dogged mentality inside of her since coming up just short of a state title last season.
“Umm … I don’t know about a dog,” Lorenzatti said. “Maybe an inner Bobcat.”
Lorenzatti, for sure, was a total standout as Beecher defeated the host Angels 2-0 in a Class 2A Joliet Catholic Regional championship game held at Lewis in Romeoville.
The sophomore right-hander struck out 17 and fired a three-hit shutout Saturday for the Bobcats (30-1). Lorenzatti also had two hits and drove in the only two runs of the game.
Beecher will play at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday against host Herscher (21-16) in a sectional semifinal.
Beecher’s Ava Lorenzatti (4) connects on a pitch against the host Angels during the Class 2A Joliet Catholic Regional championship game at Lewis in Romeoville on Saturday, May 18, 2024. (Trent Sprague / Daily Southtown)
Simply put, Lorenzatti was Do-It-All Ava in the win over the Angels.
The bases were loaded with two outs in the bottom of the second inning when Lorenzatti laced a single to the left-center gap. It sent home Taylor Norkus
and Alexa Gliva
.
“I just had to wait for my pitch and be patient,” Lorenzatti said. “I saw it and let it rip.”
On defense, she was, well, pretty much the defense.
Twice, Joliet Catholic had runners on third base with two outs. Both times, Lorenzatti got the final out on a called third strike.
Aside from the 17 strikeouts, Lorenzatti had two assists on taps to the circle and one putout when she caught an attempted bunt on the fly.
So dominant. So involved in so many things.
“I just try to do anything I can all the time,” Lorenzatti said. “I know what the girls behind me are capable of doing. As long as we’re mentally into the game, I’m very confident in them.
“I try to take the stress off of the girls, too, that we can save for later.
Beecher’s Alexa Gliva (1) swings at a pitch against the host Angels during the Class 2A Joliet Catholic Regional championship game at Lewis in Romeoville on Saturday, May 18, 2024. (Trent Sprague / Daily Southtown)
Olson recorded the only other assist for the Bobcats on a groundout to short that ended the top of the fourth.
A break from boredom? Not really.
“I mean, you’ve always got to stay on your toes,” Olson said. “You have to just be ready for anything. Even with Ava’s good pitches, if they make contact, it will more than likely be a smaller blooper to you or a routine ground ball.”
It wasn’t exactly routine. It was sharply hit by Ryan. Olson made a nifty scoop and rocket throw to first base to nail the runner.
Well-executed play.
“It felt good,” Olson said, smiling. “You just have to go out there and do your thing.”
Beecher’s Ava Lorenzatti (4) winds up for a pitch against the host Angels during the Class 2A Joliet Catholic Regional championship game at Lewis in Romeoville on Saturday, May 18, 2024. (Trent Sprague / Daily Southtown)
This season, Lorenzatti (17-1) has 239 strikeouts in 108 innings. She already has exceeded 500 strikeouts for her career.
“She has gotten a whole lot faster this season,” said Tiltges, a senior catcher. “She’s just more accurate overall. Her pitches rise more and they drop more for change-ups.
“Everything is just more accurate.”
The countdown is continuing toward the end of Lorenzatti’s longtime pitcher-catcher partnership with Tiltges.
“It’s definitely a sad feeling,” Tiltges said. “Ava and I have played together since I was in eighth grade and she was in sixth. We know each other pretty well, and that gives our chemistry when we’re on the field. I feel we’re a good team out there.
“Honestly, Ava has worked so hard for everything that she is. She deserves all of the talent that she has. And even though this being our last season together makes me sad, I’m excited to see how far she goes.”
Tony Baranek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
Seize the Grey went wire to wire to win the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, giving 88-year-old Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas a seventh victory in the race and ending Mystik Dan’s Triple Crown bid.
The gray colt took advantage of the muddy track just like Lukas hoped he would, pulling off the upset in a second consecutive impressive start two weeks after romping in a race on the Derby undercard at Churchill Downs. Seize the Grey went off at 9-1, one of the longest shots on the board.
Mystik Dan finished second in the field of eight horses running in the $2 million, 1 3/16-mile race. After falling short of going back to back following his win by a nose in the Kentucky Derby, it would be a surprise if he runs in the Belmont Stakes on June 8 at Saratoga Race Course.
Seize the Grey was a surprise Preakness winner facing tougher competition than in the Pat Day Mile on May 4. Though given the Lukas connection, it should never be a surprise when one of his horses is covered in a blanket of Black-Eyed Susan flowers.
No one in the race’s 149-year history has saddled more horses in the Preakness than Lukas with 48 since debuting in 1980. He had two this time, with Just Steel finishing fifth.
Lukas has now won the Preakness seven times, one short of the record held by two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer and close friend Bob Baffert, whose Imagination finished seventh. Baffert was also supposed to have two horses in the field and arguably the best, but morning line favorite Muth was scratched earlier in the week because of a fever.
Muth’s absence made Mystik Dan the 2-1 favorite, but he and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. could not replicate their perfect Derby trip to win that race’s first three-way photo finish since 1947. Instead, Jaime Torres rode Seize the Grey to a win in his first Preakness.
This was the last Preakness held at Pimlico Race Course as it stands before demolition begins on the historic but deteriorating track, which will still hold the 150th running of it next year mid-construction.
That process is already well underway at Belmont Park, which is why the final leg of the Triple Crown is happening at Saratoga for the first time and is being shortened to 1 1/4 miles because of the shape of the course. Kentucky Derby second-place finisher Sierra Leone, a half step from winning, is expected to headline that field.
Shota Imanaga can still walk around town without being recognized by anyone.
“I haven’t really walked around too much,” the Chicago Cubs rookie said Saturday through a translator. “I’ve been going from the field back to my house. The only time I really go out anywhere is buying my latte at Dunkin’ Donuts.
“So hopefully I can keep doing well and keep putting up stats so people get to know me when I’m walking around.”
Imanaga joked that at his favorite Dunkin’ Donuts he’s probably recognized as that “guy that can’t make up his mind” between ordering a small or medium latte.
But all that figures to change if the Japanese pitching star continues his historic start with the Cubs.
Imanaga pitched seven shutout innings Saturday in the Cubs’ 1-0 walk-off win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, allowing four hits while striking out seven in another brilliant outing before a sun-drenched crowd of 39,857.
In doing so, Imanaga reduced his major-league-leading earned-run average to 0.84 with his sixth scoreless outing in nine starts, the lowest of any pitcher over that span to start a career since ERA became a stat in 1913. The previous best was Los Angeles Dodgers phenom Fernando Valenzuela’s 0.91 over his first nine starts in 1981.
“If I’m being honest, I’m not really too interested in stats like that or any (of) historic value,” Imagana said. “But knowing there were so many good pitchers that came before me … it’s a good learning experience.”
FernandoMania became a part of baseball history. ShotaMania isn’t quite a thing yet, but the Cubs marketing department must be salivating at a potential new revenue stream.
“When you start getting into this territory, you have to be a little surprised,” manager Craig Counsell said of Imanaga’s historic numbers. “We’re fortunate to watch it. It’s been so much fun to watch, his aptitude out there, his pitch-making ability, his stuff, his competitiveness, they’ve all been just a joy to watch.”
Cody Bellinger doubled with one out in the ninth and scored the game’s only run on a Christopher Morel single, barely sliding ahead of the tag of catcher Joey Bart as Wrigley Field erupted like an overstuffed bag of microwaved popcorn. A second aftershock occurred a few minutes later when the inevitable replay challenge by Pirates manager Derek Shelton confirmed the call of plate umpire Chris Conroy.
The two-hour, 10-minute game moved so quickly almost everyone stuck around for the wild ending and still had time to party in Wrigleyville on an 82-degree afternoon.
Cubs fans applaud before starting pitcher Shota Imanaga struck out the final batter in the top of the seventh inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field on May 18, 2024. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Imanaga said his comfort factor in Chicago
has been helped by having teammate Seiya Suzuki and Japanese translators and employees in the organization. He then credited Héctor Neris, who delivered a postgame speech following the intense win that followed two losses to the Pirates.
“Usually it’s after a loss,” Imanaga said of the reliever’s speech. “The fact he did it after a win, it’s very reassuring. He had a lot of positive words, so all of that combined has been helping a lot.”
Neris, who notched his fourth win with a perfect inning in the ninth, declined to go into his speech or the reasons why he felt it was necessary to give one. Usually a clubhouse speech is given during a losing stretch or in a rain delay in Game 7 of the World Series
.
Cubs relief pitcher Héctor Neris (51) celebrates after closing out the Pittsburgh Pirates in the ninth inning at Wrigley Field on May 18, 2024. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Either way, Bellinger said it gave him “goosebumps” listening to Neris.
“I wouldn’t say it’s unusual, but it was just something really fun and got the boys going a little bit,” Bellinger said.
Maybe they needed it. After being no-hit for six innings Friday by Pirates phenom Paul Skenes
, the Cubs offense failed to produce again Saturday against starter Bailey Falter, who managed to match Imanaga with 7 2/3 shutout innings, allowing only three hits.
The Cubs’ .233 average is on pace to be the lowest of any roster in franchise history. The only team with a lower average was the 2020 version that hit an anemic .220 in the pandemic-shortened, 60-game season.
Imanaga had no-hit stuff and allowed only two infield hits over the first six innings. Shortstop Miles Mastrobuoni double-clutched on the first one in the fourth, and took an extra step before throwing to first in the sixth.
Back-to-back, two out singles by Jared Triolo and Bart in the seventh meant the end was near for Imanaga. But he struck out Michael Taylor on three pitches to escape the jam, pumping his fist after Taylor swung through a splitter.
Morel celebrates after hitting a game-winning walk-off single in the ninth inning of a game against the Pirates at Wrigley Field on May 18, 2024. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Counsell lifted Imanaga after 88 pitches, and the lefty has still not allowed more than two earned runs in any start. After starting the game with a five-pitch walk to Andrew McCutchen, Imanaga threw only 16 more balls to the next 25 hitters, showing complete control of the strike zone.
“Based on pitch count, I probably could’ve gone out (for the eighth),” Imanaga said, adding he was “feeling some fatigue, and it might have been a different story if I did.”
Mark Leiter Jr. struck out the side in a scoreless eighth and Neris had a rare 1-2-3 inning in the ninth.
“Sometimes this game, it’s really hard,” Bellinger said. “Our pitching staff today was the only reason why we had any chance of getting a win.”
Jameson Taillon will start the series finale Sunday. Javier Assad and Justin Steele figure to pitch the first two games of the series against the Atlanta Braves, but Counsell will have to make a decision on Kyle Hendricks, whose next scheduled turn would come Thursday.
Hendricks, who is 1-5 with a 7.71 career ERA against the Braves, could be skipped for Imanaga to work on his issues. Asked if Hendricks could go to the bullpen to work things out, Counsell said: “We have to consider everything, that’s what we should do, and then consider the situation we’re in with the rest of the pitching.”
Counsell said they’d “assess” Hendricks’ status by Tuesday after the off day.
“We’re in a spot where we need Kyle’s innings right now,” he said. “We’ve got injury issues, right? That’s part of this conversation, for sure. But we’ve also got to consider everything, because we’ve got to do better.”
The Cubs need strong starting pitching until the offense wakes up. Nico Hoerner continues to be sidelined with left hamstring soreness and Dansby Swanson probably won’t return until the Braves series.
Until then, the starters might need to follow the lead of ShotaMania and be like Shota.
“Obviously I wasn’t around for Fernando,” Bellinger said. “But if it was anything like this, it’s pretty tremendous, honestly.”
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Benny Gantz, a popular centrist member of Israel’s three-member War Cabinet, threatened Saturday to resign from the government if it doesn’t adopt a new plan in three weeks’ time for the war in Gaza, a decision that would leave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahumore reliant on far-right allies.
The announcement deepens a divide in Israel’s leadership more than seven months into a war in which Israel has yet to accomplish its goals of dismantling Hamas and returning scores of hostages abducted in the group’s Oct. 7 attack.
Gantz spelled out a six-point plan that includes the return of hostages, ending Hamas’ rule, demilitarizing the Gaza Strip and establishing an international administration of civilian affairs with American, European, Arab and Palestinian cooperation. The plan also supports efforts to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia and widen military service to all Israelis.
He gave a June 8 deadline. “If you choose the path of fanatics and lead the entire nation to the abyss — we will be forced to quit the government,” he said.
Netanyahu in a statement responded by saying Gantz had chosen to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister instead of to Hamas, and called his conditions “euphemisms” for Israel’s defeat.
Gantz, a longtime political rival of Netanyahu, joined his coalition and the War Cabinet in the early days of the war in a gesture at national unity. His departure would leave Netanyahu more beholden to far-right allies who believe Israel should occupy Gaza and rebuild Jewish settlements there.
Gantz spoke days after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the third member of the War Cabinet, said he would not remain in his post if Israel elected to reoccupy Gaza, and called on the government to make plans for a Palestinian administration.
In what was seen as a swipe at Netanyahu, Gantz said “personal and political considerations have begun to penetrate into the holy of holies of Israel’s security.” Netanyahu’s critics accuse the prime minister of seeking to prolong the war to avoid new elections, allegations he denies.
Polls suggest Gantz as the most likely candidate to be the next prime minister. That would expose Netanyahu to prosecution on longstanding corruption charges.
Netanyahu is under growing pressure on multiple fronts. Hard-liners want the military offensive on Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah to press ahead. Top ally the U.S. and others warn against the offensive on a city where more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million had sheltered — hundreds of thousands have now fled — and they threaten to scale back support over Gaza’s humanitarian and hunger crisis.
The U.S. national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, will be in Saudi Arabia and Israel this weekend to discuss the war and is scheduled on Sunday to meet with Netanyahu, who has declaredthat Israel would “stand alone” if needed.
Many Israelis, anguished over the hostages and accusing Netanyahu of putting political interests ahead of all else, want a deal to stop the fighting. There was fresh frustration Friday when the military said its troops in Gaza found the bodies of three hostages killed by Hamas on Oct. 7. Israel on Saturday announced the discovery of the body of a fourth hostage.
Thousands of Israelis again rallied Saturday evening to demand a deal along with new elections. Some police in Tel Aviv responded with water cannons.
“This government is taking the country to places that I don’t want to see my country go,” said one protester, Noam Fagi.
The latest talks in pursuit of a cease-fire in Gaza, mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, have brought little.
A new effort to deliver desperately needed aid to Gaza appeared to falter Saturday. Several Israeli tanks fired warning shots in an apparent attempt to clear the way for trucks ferrying food supplies on their way from a new U.S.-built pier. One Palestinian was killed, according to Associated Press journalists at the scene. Hundreds of Palestinians gathered around the stopped trucks and carried away boxes.
The Hamas Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel killed 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more. The Israeli offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza, local health officials say.
Netanyahu has said Israel will maintain open-ended security control over Gaza and partner with local Palestinians who are not affiliated with Hamas or the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. But Netanyahu said it is impossible to plan for such a postwar authority before Hamas is defeated.
Krauss and Jeffery reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv and Natalie Melzer in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Shane Lowry tied a major championship record by shooting a 9-under 62 in the third round of the PGA Championship on Saturday.
The 37-year-old Irishman recorded nine birdies without a bogey at a very gettable Valhalla to match the lowest round ever in any of the four major tournaments.
Four players previously posted a 62 across the PGA Championship, Masters, British Open and U.S. Open, the latest by Xander Schauffele in the opening round at Valhalla on Thursday.
Just over 48 hours later, Lowry matched it to thrust himself into contention for his second major title.
Lowry captured the British Open at Royal Portrush by six shots in 2019. He had recorded a pair of top-five finishes in majors since that homecoming triumph five years ago when he arrived in Kentucky this week.
He opened with consecutive 2-under 69s and entered Saturday eight shots behind a front-running Schauffele. Over five nearly flawless hours, Lowry closed the gap considerably and finished the round at 13 under.
Lowry reeled off four straight birdies on his way to a 29 at the turn. He cooled off — only a little — coming home. He put himself on the cusp of history when he rolled in a 6-footer for birdie on the par-4 17th to get to 9 under.
The 18th at Valhalla is an uphill par-5 that was playing the easiest hole of the day when Lowry stood on the tee. He pulled his tee shot into the right rough and laid up on his second shot. He knocked his approach to just under 12 feet.
A chance at the lowest round ever among the 130,000 played in major championship history slipped away when Lowry’s birdie putt slid left of the hole.
Instead, Lowry had to settle for a share of a record that’s becoming commonplace of late. Four of the five 62s shot in a major have come in the last 12 months.
