Everaert’s 6 RBI powers Kouts to title

VALPARAISO — An offensive explosion led by freshman Max Everaert propelled Kouts to a 15-2 victory over LaCrosse in the Washington Township Class A Sectional championship.

Everaert went 3-for-4 on the day, with a home run, double, two runs and six RBI. Everaert’s home run came in the first inning, giving the Mustangs an early 3-0 lead. From there, they never looked back.

“It feels great,” Everaert said. “It was my first home run in a couple years. It’s pretty exciting.”

The freshman had been hitting the ball hard all year, but it was a move up to the No. 4 spot that really got his bat going.

“I had been in a little slump,” he said. “Moving up to the clean-up spot has really helped though.”

Along with Everaert, the Kouts offense was led by junior second baseman Dan Cullison, who went 3-for-3 with a double, three runs, a stolen base and two RBI.

“I felt like I’ve been in a slump all season,” Cullison said. “It felt good today. I was excited to play and I’m glad I was able to help the team win.”

The offensive eruption could be credited to the Mustangs’ dugout atmosphere.

“We were in it to win it,” Cullison said. “We wanted to leave it all out there. We were all excited and the dugout was full energy.”

Kouts coach Matt Weston was proud his team and glad to see all of their hard work paying off.

“We were really fired up,” Weston said. “We’ve waited for tournament time all year.”

Kouts first baseman Matt Morgart had one of the stranger stat lines of the day, finishing 1-for-1 with four runs scored —he drew three walks in the game.

Although LaCrosse came up short in the sectional final, they still had much to be proud of.

In their semifinal game against Whiting —which ended just an hour before the final started — the Tigers fought back to force extra innings, eventually edging the favored-Oilers 9-8.

“We battled all day,” LaCrosse coach Brian McMahan said. “We were mentally drained after the first game. But we improved this year and there’s no reason why we can’t challenge for a sectional title next season.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.