Sycos 16U made history at Storm Dayz last year. Now they’re hoping for more

Compared to Storm Dayz host Kishwaukee Valley Storm, Sycamore Sycos is still a relatively new travel program.

Last season, a Sycos 16U team broke through with the program’s first win at Storm Dayz in Sycamore at any level.

When the 25th annual version of the tournament starts Friday and runs through Sunday at the Sycamore Park District fields, the team hopes to build off that history.

“It really showed we can do whatever we really want to put our mind to and stuff like that,” Camryn Knox said. “It really showed what we’re capable of and that we can do anything.”

Knox is one of four players on the championship team from a year ago who is back with the club this year. Riley Schuller, Knox’s teammate at Sycamore, returns along with La Salle-Peru’s Dagny Greer and North Boone’s Abby Galarza.

Coach Ryan Knox said he’s been taking teams to the tournament for six years with limited success early on.

“When we started going to Storm Dayz, my group specifically, we went two full years without winning a game,” Ryan Knox said. “They all trusted the process and we continued to add quality athletes and trained them a little bit differently. We started to notice some more success.”

The team has played in just two tournaments heading into Storm Dayz, which will feature 40 teams across four age groups. The Sycos have two 12U teams, a 14U team, two 16U teams and an 18U team. The Storm has one team at each level.

Ryan Knox said the Sycos are still inspired by last year’s win.

“It was very special for our group to win it for the very first time as an organization and as a team,” Knox said. “I think it motivates the group we still have here and the new players to repeat it.”

Callie Countryman, who plays high school ball for Sycamore, wasn’t on the 16U team that won it all last year. She, Knox and McHenry’s Elyse Fullington are the main pitchers this year. Bella Jacobs, who got the win in the title game last year and is the Daily Chronicle 2025 Softball Player of the Year, transferred to a program out of Aurora.

Countryman said she has been in the Sycos program for eight years, and with how close all the teams are it was great to see a team win it last year.

“It’s always fun, when your team isn’t doing as good as you were hoping, there’s most likely another Sycos team that is stepping up,” Countryman said. “It’s fun to be able to just watch them succeed like you would want to.”

Both coach Knox and Countryman said the offense is still trying to find its groove. The coach said Brooke Bahrey from Somonauk and Fullington have some pop at the top of the order before getting into Schuller and Knox in the middle of the order.

The Sycos opened the summer season with a tournament in Wisconsin before competing in St. Louis last week as they look to find their rhythm.

“I think we have a lot of really good athletes but we’re still working on the steps to get us put together to work as a team,” Countryman said. “But we’re definitely each game getting better in that aspect of it.”

The tournament has a reputation for living up to its name. Last year, rain wiped out the first day and created a modified schedule over the final two days. Early forecasts show at least a 20% chance of rain each day of the tournament this year.

Ryan Knox said he looks forward to Storm Dayz each year, and that anticipation is heightened this year thanks to last year’s results.

“I think it’s great. KV Storm does a really nice job putting on Storm Dayz,” Ryan Knox said. “It’s very successfully run every single year. This will be our sixth year playing in it, so we always look forward to it regardless of the outcome the year before. Obviously last year going in and winning it for the first time, we’re excited to get back and kind of see where this new group holds up.”

Chris Dierschow, the coach of the Storm’s 18U team, said it’s an honor to be part of the tournament’s 25th anniversary.

“I know the people that started this event 25 years ago, and to be here 25 years in the making is pretty special,” said Dierschow, in his fifth year with the Storm after coaching with the Sycos. “Where travel sports are at, it seems every year more are popping up, others are dissolving. Tournaments get cancelled because they don’t draw enough. ... It speaks so much to what the program has done and what the park district does. Hopefully we’re around another 25 years.”