Sports
Top Spring Athletes: Barry and Funkhouse Reflect on Special Season
Oak Forest's Tim Barry and Kyle Funkhouser are co-winners of Patch's Top Spring Athlete honor.
Barry's Major Accomplishments/Awards
- On May 6, .
- He finished the season with a .372 batting average, 12 home runs (53 for his career) and 33 RBIs (203 for his career). He added 38 runs scored and a .379 batting average.
- He helped lead the Bengals to the state finals for the first time since 1985. Oak Forest concluded the season with a 27-8-1 record and finished second in state to Kaneland.
Funkhouser’s Major Accomplishments/Awards
- Finished the season with a 12-0 record.
- Pitched 82.2 innings and allowed only 10 earned runs. He recorded 134 strikeouts
- Had a 3-0 record in the postseason, including a win over Joliet Catholic Academy in the Lincoln-Way West Sectional championship and a win over Nazareth Academy in the state semifinals at Silver Cross Field in Joliet.
Barry and Funkhouser: In Their Own Words
Emotions were running high following When Barry was asked if he could put the season in perspective, he reflected on the accomplishment of making it to state.
“Honestly, I’m just happy that we were here,” he said. “First place, second place, it doesn’t matter to me—we were here. It’s something that every kid should look and see and not hang their heads. It’s sad that we didn’t come in first but we made it pretty far and we beat pretty good teams, and we proved to them that we can stick with anybody.”
Barry also talked about how much he appreciated his teammates.
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“Pretty much how the team came together,” Barry said of how he will remember the season. “If I was in a struggle or in a slump, or getting pitched around and getting walked, that every team member picked me up because they got me around the bases and put the ball in play.”
For Funkhouser, the run to state was very special.
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“At the beginning of the year, I really wouldn’t have pictured us in this place right now,” Funkhouser said. “I’m extremely excited that we’re here and that we made it to state and that we won the first game 3-1. That was really exciting. And although we didn’t pull it off (Saturday), it was still nice that we came in second in state out of 170-something 3A high schools.”
