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Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what’s going on around the area
Parkland athletics
Mahomet-Seymour product Karley Yergler has helped the top-ranked Parkland softball team produce a 50-4 record so far this season.
Three reasons we love sports today
➜ 1. Congrats to Hoopeston Area baseball player Ryker Small and Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin softball player Ella Myers. They are The News-Gazette’s latest High School Athletes of the Week, powered by Copper Creek Contractors. Read more about the pair in Monday’s paper.
➜ 2. It’s Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon Weekend. We’ll have a 20-page special section available via an e-Edition at news-gazette.com on Sunday that’ll also run in Monday’s paper.
➜ 3. The Parkland softball team hit 50 wins this season on Thursday, sweeping John Wood in a home doubleheader.
Shota Imanaga is set to start for the Cubs against the Red Sox on Friday in Boston.
Numbers game: 7
Games above .500 is where the Cubs find themselves. With rookie Pete Crow-Armstrong hitting his first home run in Thursday’s 3-1 win against the Astros to complete a three-game sweep at Wrigley Field, the Cubs are contending with the Brewers for first place in the NL Central.
Jackson Buchanan, left, and coach Mike Small will try to help Illinois men’s golf win a Big Ten title this weekend.
Crowd control
Three events I’m paying attention to
➜ 1. Big Ten men’s golf championships. The Illini are vying for their ninth straight conference title when play gets underway Friday in Columbus, Ohio.
➜ 2. The NFL draft. The second and third rounds take place Friday night before the fourth through seventh rounds are on Saturday. How many Illini will hear their names called?
➜ 3. Tampa Bay Rays at Chicago White Sox. For as good as the Cubs are playing, the White Sox are the opposite. They carry a paltry 3-22 record and a seven-game losing streak into Friday’s 6:40 p.m. first pitch.
Lindy Corrigan
Coach’s corner
Three questions with Centennial softball coach Lindy Corrigan. She and her Chargers are set to host Peoria Notre Dame at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Farris Weidner Field in Champaign.
➜ 1. My favorite sports teams are ... the Chicago Cubs and the Notre Dame football team.
➜ 2. Three coaches I’d like to have dinner with are ... Marcus Freeman, Patty Gasso and Steve Kerr.
➜ 3. My biggest pet peeve is ... people who think they know everything.
