Paluch sickens Richards' bats

JCA pitcher Kendall Paluch executes a pitch.
(Hung T. Vu/For The Herald News)

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JOLIET -- Kendall Paluch had a lousy day Saturday.

Whenever he was not standing in the center of the diamond, that is.

The Joliet Catholic Academy junior right-hander admitted to being "a little sick. I think I'm coming down with something."

That was after throwing a 4-hit shutout in Saturday morning's 9-0 victory over Richards in the championship game of the Class 3A JCA Regional. How does he explain it?

"Maybe it helped me mentally to be sick," Paluch responded. "I knew I was not in good condition, so maybe it made me try 10 times harder."

His effort lifted the top-seeded Hilltoppers (27-5) into Wednesday's 4:30 p.m. Crete-Monee Sectional semifinal against Lemont.

"Kendall is one of those juniors who had never been in a regional before, but once he got out of that first inning, that was a huge confidence boost for him," JCA coach Jared Voss said.

Richards (16-18 and the No. 5 sectional seed) put the first two runners on base in the top of the first inning, but Steve Fehrenbacher made a nice catch on a line drive to center field, and after a stolen base, Paluch struck out the next two hitters to escape.

The Hilltoppers jumped ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning when Dave Cladis doubled, advanced on Nick Ratajczak's fly to center and scored when Andrew Cecchi singled for the first of his two hits. That was all the support Paluch would need, but plenty more was on the way.

"The guys always seem to score a lot of runs when I'm out there, and they always score early," said the appreciative Paluch (9-2, but 9-0 as a starter).

Cladis was the catalyst from his leadoff spot. The senior shortstop followed his first-inning double with a sacrifice fly in a two-run second inning, tripled home two runs in a three-run fourth and doubled in a run in a three-run sixth. His line for the day: 3-for-3 with a walk, 3 runs scored and 4 RBIs.

"This was a big game, they're a good team and we wanted to jump on them early," Cladis said. "We scored runs in quite a few different innings, and that's something we wanted to do."

Cladis has enjoyed an outstanding season, but three extra-base hits on the same day is hardly the norm.

"What we usually live by is small ball, defense and pitching," he said. "We try to adjust to the situation.

"In the first inning, you see how Rat (Ratajczak) hit the fly ball to get me to third with one out, and how he hit the sacrifice fly to get me in later. When I came up in the second inning, I swung at the first pitch because it was one where I could hit a sacrifice fly. If nobody had been on base, I would have been working on the count and trying to get on for the hitters behind me."

Voss said Cladis' ability to play to the situation helps make him special.

"Dave is a baseball player," he said. "When he got his triple into the left-field corner, most kids would be looking at the coach when they got near second. Not him, he was already coming on his own. He makes me look good."

And then there's Cladis' defense at shortstop. For highlights, he started a neat 6-4-3 double play to end the fourth inning, then ended the fifth when he charged a ground ball up the middle and threw perfectly on the run, making a difficult play look routine.

"That play across the middle was outstanding," Voss said. "He made it look easy. But plays like that motivate the guys."

Senior first baseman Kevin Hulbert also enjoyed a big day. His diving stop and throw to Paluch covering first ended the second inning, and he cracked a single and double from the 7-hole in the lineup.

"Kevin has been swinging the bat well," Voss said. "It's nice to have some senior pop at the bottom of the lineup with Kevin and Steve Cservenyak down there."

Ratajczak drove in two runs with his sacrifice fly in the fourth and RBI single in the sixth. John Gerl singled home a run in the sixth as well.

JCA won the East Suburban Catholic Conference title and dominated the postseason awards. Voss was the coach of the year. Ratajczak and A.J. Plese the players of the year, and joining them on the all-conference team were Cladis, Hulbert, Cservenyak, Paluch and junior catcher Nate Ruzich. That's the most all-conference players in Voss' 10-year run as coach.

Brock Liston pitched the regional semifinal victory over Chicago Washington and Plese is scheduled to face Lemont on Wednesday. Paluch, who struck out 6, walked 1 and threw 63 of his 94 pitches for strikes, will work on conquering his illness, but regardless of who is on the mound, the Hilltoppers figure to be a tough out.

"Kendall (Paluch) has been pitching like this all year," Cladis said. "With Brock, A.J. and Kendall, we are loaded with pitching for the playoffs."

"They will all contribute for however long we last," Voss said. "They have been doing it all year."