Lawrence's best makes Oak Park a winner

Oak Park scored six runs in the first inning, then rode tournamentMVP Sean Lawrence's no-hitter to an 11-0 victory over St. Laurenceyesterday for its second summer league championship in a row.

Lawrence faced 17 batters in the five-inning rout, struck out sixand walked one as the Huskies (30-5) capped the Illinois High SchoolAssociation's double-elimination tournament at North Central Collegein Naperville by beating St. Laurence twice after losing to theVikings Tuesday.

Lawrence, who was 3-0 in the five-day event and didn't permit arun in 11 2/3 innings, was backed by a 12-hit attack triggered byMatt Marino (three hits, two RBI), Joe Rumoro (two RBI) and BrennenKeefe (three hits, one RBI).

For the second game in a row, St. Laurence was betrayed by itsdefense. The Vikings, who made four errors in a four-run inningthat keyed Oak Park's 4-1 victory Wednesday, made three errors in the first that led to five unearnedruns. Marino's two-run double was the big hit.

"Lawrence is the best pitcher in the tournament," said St.Laurence coach Ron Unavitch, closing an 18-6 campaign. "He has goodstuff and when they got ahead, we had to come to him.

"Yesterday was the key. We had a lot of chances early and couldn't come through. We went downhill from there."

Oak Park coach Jack Kaiser also praised Lawrence, who stole thethunder from Huskie star Ben Shelton.

"Lawrence really did a great job today," Kaiser said. "He oftenfights the umpires when he thinks they miss a call. I didn't see anyof that today. I could tell he wasn't getting tired. He wantedit."

"I was wild last spring," Lawrence said. "Now I'm gaining morecomposure. I'm trying to concentrate on taking things in stride.I get upset when I throw the ball too high and then I start to fightmyself. I'm trying to get out of that habit."

It was Oak Park's fourth shutout and second no-hitter (Shelton hadthe other) in its last six games. More important, it capped anothersuccessful season for one of the state's winningest programs.

Oak Park won the Class AA championship in 1981 and qualified forthe final four in 1984, 1985 and 1986. In addition to sweeping twosuccessive summer league titles, several players were members of OakPark teams that qualified for the Pony League World Series four timesin the last five years, including a third-place finish in 1985.

"We have a great system from Pony League on up," Kaiser said."The coaches do a great job. Success breeds success. The kidshave been there and they know how to react to the pressure."