Sports

CHAMPS!

River Forest Little Leaguers come from behind to win state championship.

Coach Ken Slepicka knew his team had a lot to overcome to make it to the state championship.

Yet the River Forest Little League boy’s 10- and 11-year-old team did just that, and ended up winning it all in Watseka last Thursday.

Slepicka said River Forest teams typically have trouble getting out of the sectional tournament because they have to face teams from bigger districts, like Libertyville or Crystal Lake.

Find out what's happening in Oak Park-River Forestwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“We needed to win districts and sectionals and we did that,” Slepicka said. “We started off 5-0 and that got us to the championships in Watseka.”

But this year, he said he thinks the team's sectional domination had a lot to do with a home field advantage, since the sectionals were held in River Forest.

Find out what's happening in Oak Park-River Forestwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The team beat Streator 4-1 in the first game of the tournament and went on to defeat 2008 and 2009 state champions Jackie Robinson West in the second game, 4-3.

That kept the team in the winners bracket, but when they faced Jackie Robinson again, they lost. Since the tournament was double elimination, they ended up facing Jackie Robinson for a third time for the championship.

“We were down 5-3, and we were able to tie the game 5-5,” Slepicka said. Thanks to great pitching and hitting “we ended up beating them 14-5.”

Slepicka, who’s coached his son KJ for five years and his daughter Lia for 11 years, said a lot of praise goes to pitchers Jack Brennan, Tommy Reardon and John Arends for consistently good pitching throughout the championship tournament.

It was really great because “the town kind of rallied around us. We almost had a home field advantage,” he said.

River Forest Boy’s 10-11 Little League Team Roster

  • John Arends
  • Jack Brennan
  • Robert Dombrowski
  • Nick Humbert
  • Tommy Reardon
  • Brian May
  • Luke Landis
  • Andrew Neilson
  • Phil Saleh
  • Tommy Klein
  • KJ Slepicka
  • Zach Zobel


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here