The Valparaiso girls’ tennis team won the Culver Invite Friday with first round win over Ft Wayne Bishop Luers 4-1 and a finals win over Culver Academies 3-2. Alexis Orlich was 1-1, AK Flude 2-0, Julie Wappel 2-0, Ema Gilliana and Keeley Evans 1-1, Grace Healy and Aleah Ferngren 1-0 and Grace Healy and Ainsley Grabarek were 0-1. On Monday, the tennis team lost to Munster 5-0. The JV did win six of eleven matches. The girls’ played in the Portage IHSAA Sectional this week defeating the host Indians 5-0 on Tuesday and defeating Wheeler 5-0 on Wednesday to play in the championship game last night against Chesterton. They defeated the Trojans 4-1 to win the Sectional. Congratulations! They will play Penn in the LaPorte Regional on Tuesday, May 22.
The JV softball team travelled to Lowell on Saturday morning to play in a tournament. The questionable weather scared several teams away, so they played a split double header against Lowell and Highland. Unfortunately they lost both games 14-4. Michaela Nagy had a stand up triple, while Jazmine Cwenta and Megan Civanich both had stand up doubles, bringing in 1 RBI each. Hannah Flynn went 2 for 3. They lost 9-10 to Boone Grove on Monday. Brandi Hanaway was able to get on base every time with a double and 2 walks. They lost Tuesday 9-10 to Portage. Maddy Wills went 4 for 5 with 3 singles and a double. Jazmine Cwenta got on base every time with 2 singles and 2 walks. Last night they won 12-1. Brandi Hanaway went 2 for 3 with a double and a home run, her first of the season. Anna Senese and Ana Betustak went 2 for 3 with 2 singles each. They finish their season 8-14 overall and 5-9 in the DAC.
Varsity softball played in the Mishawaka Cavemen Cancer Classic May 4 and 5. The Vikings defeated Fort Wayne Dwenger 7-6 in 8 innings on Friday. Ashlynn Templin and Maggie Etzler added 3 hits each and Etzler knocked in 3 runs. Maya Seifert had two hits. Emily Petro pitched the victory. On Saturday, Valparaiso defeated Niles (MI) 13-9 in 8 innings. Brooke Templin had 4 hits (including a home run) and 3 RBI. Peyton Zahm had 2 hits (including a home run) and 3 RBI. Maya Seifert, Alex Burns (including a home run), Maggie Etzler, and Ashlynn Templin added 2 hits each. Emily Glover pitched the victory. They lost to Fairfield 8-10. Maya Seifert, Beth Kupsis, Emily Petro, Alex Burns (including a home run), and Brooke Templin each had two hits. Emily Petro and Emily Glover both pitched for the Vikings. In the consolation game, the Vikings defeated Mishawaka 13-2 in 8 innings. Emily Glover had 3 hits and 2 RBI. Maggie Etzler, Alex Burns (including a home run), Brooke Templin, Paige Knight (including a home run), and Allie Gatz all had 2 hits each. Emily Glover pitched for the victory. Valpo got 3rd place in the tournament and won each of the extra-inning games in the international tie breaker format.
On Tuesday May 8th, Valparaiso and Lake Central as well as the entire DAC played in pink uniforms for Breast Cancer Awareness. Unfortunately the Indians defeated the Vikings 10-0. Alex Burns and Peyton Zahm had the only two hits for the Vikings. On May 9th, the Vikings lost to the defending state champs from Crown Point 7-6 in Valparaiso 8 innings. Alex Burns, Peyton Zahm (including a home run), Emily Glover, and Beth Kupsis each had two hits. Ashlynn Templin drove in 3 runs, Peyton Zahm added 2 RBI’s. Emily Glover pitched a complete game Tuesday, May 15. On Tuesday, they defeated Portage 7-2. Brooke Templin had 3 hits including a home run. Peyton Zahm and Beth Kupsis had two hits; Kupsis added 2 RBI. Emily Glover pitched the victory. On Thursday, they defeated Hobart 6-5. Emily Glover had a walk-off two run double to win the game for Valpo and pitched the complete game victory. Maya Seifert had 2 hits including a home run. They are now 12-8 overall and 7-7 in the DAC in sole possession of 4th place.
The Varsity baseball team took a trip to Indianapolis over this past weekend to play in the Mooresville baseball tournament. The team enjoyed a weekend full of baseball. Friday night the team got to see Jerrick Suiter (VHS Alum) play for the Indianapolis Indians (AAA affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates). Suiter was kind enough to provide the entire team with tickets to the game and met the team down on the field afterward. It was a great experience for the whole team.
Saturday the Vikings took on North Central and suffered a tough 4-2 loss. The Vikings fought until the end sparked by a 2-run double in the bottom of 7th by Tyler Bukur. Zack Zborowski took the tough luck loss.
The Vikings bounced back vs. Eastern Hancock behind a complete game, 1-hit/6 k's, shut out by Noah Comstock. Offensively, the Vikings were led again by Tyler Bukur who had 3 hits in the game including 2 more doubles. Logan Spillers also had 2 hits, one of them a double.
The Vikings split games with Merrillville earlier this week winning Tuesday 4-0 behind a complete game by Matt Jindra and lost Wednesday 5-3. The Vikings got back on track with a 7-1 win over Knox on Thursday. Zack Zborowski pitched a complete game, 3-hitter. Gunnar Pullins, Charlie Healy, and Nick Caputo all had multiple hits to lead the offense. They are now 12-7 overall and 5-6 in the DAC. The JV Vikings took on Merrillville on Tuesday losing 4-3. Ty Gill had 10 strikeouts but the Vikings could not get anything going offensively and lost to the Pirates. On Wednesday, they won 9-4. Despite a very slow start the Vikings were able to do enough to come away with the win. Ty Gill clobbered his 3rd home run of the season. Grant Comstock picked up the win. Spencer Reed, Blake Lemmon, and Max Bukur all contributed offensively.
The freshmen baseball team took on Kankakee Valley this past Friday. Nolan Coil pitched 5 great inning but got the no decision. Josh Brinson pitched the last two and got the win. Valpo won 5-4 on a walk off hit in the 7th by Matt Levenda. They played Munster on Tuesday and Wednesday this past week winning both games 3-1 and 3-0. On Tuesday, Elan Reid had six great innings pitched and Nick Koprcina came in to get the save. On Wednesday, Ryoma Yamawaki pitched six shutout innings and had a no hitter throughthree innings and earned the win. Cooper Jones pitched the 7th and earned the save. Carter Kosiara went 4-4 with all singles. They are now 14-3 overall and 4-2 in the DAC.
The golf team travelled to Lake Central to take on the host Indians and the Portage Indians at Palmira Golf Course. The Vikings took down both sets of Indians and raised their overall record to 14-1 and DAC record to 11-1. Andrew Karr and Mark Civanich tied for medalist honors with a 38 and Zach Holmes shot a 39. On Thursday, they hosted Chesterton and LaPorte at Forest Park. They lost to Chesterton by three strokes and easily defeated LaPorte. The JV lost to Chesterton by four strokes.
The Unified Track team competed at Lake Central on May 3rd. The Vikings were led by Reece Schenk in shot put throwing a distance of 42-03. Jamie Leftridge jumped 19-04 to PR for long jump on the year. Leo Davison jumped his season best at 10 feet and 3 inches. The boys 4x1 team of Jamie and Jeremiah Leftridge, Eddie Curry, and Marco Traino continued their undefeated season with a time of 47.74. Valparaiso High School seniors Madison Daniels and Emma Nieto will be continuing their cheerleading as the move on to college next year. Madison will be at IUPUI and Emma at Valparaiso University. Congratulations ladies and best of luck to you!
Three more members of the VHS football team have committed to play next year at the collegiate level. Lucas White will be heading to Indiana State, Tad Davis to Wabash College, and Gavin Seay to Cornell College. This brings the total to nine out of the 32 seniors from the 2017 DAC Championship team that will have an opportunity to play collegiate football. Congratualtions!
The boys’ track team finished 5th in the Portage Sectional on Thursday night. The team qualified the 4x800m and 4x400m Relay teams, Oluseyi Ogundipe in the 110m Hurdles, Brett Otterbacher in the 400m Dash, Nate Smith in the 800m Run, Matt Cavanaugh and Nick Tonne in the 1600m Run, and Colin Huber in the 3200m Run for the Regional. Ty Puskar and Jon Fry are likely additions to the Regional competition as "callbacks" in the 800m Run and 300m Hurdles, respectively.
The IHSAA girls’ softball tournament draw features your Vikings playing Michigan City in the bye game on May 22 to follow the winners of Chesterton vs. Hobart and Merrillville vs. Portage at 4:30 PM. The first two games involving those schools will be played on May 21 starting at 4:30 PM. The championship will be played on May 24 at 4:30 PM. All games will be played at Merrillville HS. Admission is $6 per session or $10 for a season pass.
The draw for the IHSAA baseball sectional is as follows: Chesterton will play Merrillville at 5 PM on Wednesday, May 23 followed by Crown Point vs. Hobart. On Friday, May 25 the winners from Wednesday will play at 5 PM followed by Valparaiso vs. Portage. The Championship game will be played on Monday, May 28 at 11 AM. All games will be played at Chesterton. Admission is $6 per session or $10 for a season pass.
The VHS Athletic Department will be celebrating our graduates who will be competing in athletics at the collegiate level next year on May 30th. This event is to recognize all VHS senior students, scholarship, walk on, and non-scholarship student-athletes who will be attending college and continuing their competitive efforts. All are welcome on May 30 in Café C, D, and E at 2:45 PM with cake and celebration!