One way or another, the title hardware at the WJOL/Don Ladas Memorial Tournament was going to be taken home by a member of the Malinowski family.

Bobby Malinowski’s RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning allowed he and his Joliet West teammates to claim the school’s first-ever tournament title, topping Lockport 8-7. Lockport’s head coach is Bobby Malinowski’s father, Scott.

Bobby Malinowski found himself in a fortunate position in the bottom of the ninth after a bunt effort from Sean Hogan led to a Lockport fielding error and put Joliet West baserunners on second and third with no out.

That sent Bobby Malinowski to the plate with a chance to win the game. Conventional wisdom may have had Lockport giving him an intentional free pass to get a force play situation created at home plate, but Lockport elected to not go that route.

Bobby Malinowski quickly found a pitch he liked and rapped it into the right-field gap for a game-winner.

“Yeah, I thought they were going to walk me,” Bobby Malinowski said. “But as soon as they didn’t intentionally walk me, I was looking for strikes right off the bat.

“I’m grateful that they gave me the opportunity, and I’m just grateful to be in that position to start with.”

Joliet West probably felt fortunate to have that chance at all after it saw a three-run lead slip away in the seventh inning and then dodged a major bullet in Lockport’s half of the eighth when Lockport had runners at a second and third with none out and didn’t manage to score.

“We did get a little down, because weren’t expecting that seventh inning to happen,” Joliet West third baseman and tournament MVP Keegan Schwarting said. “But we just trusted in ourselves, believed in our teammates, and we made it happen at the end of the day.”

After surrendering a run in the top half of the first inning to Lockport, Joliet West immediately went to work crafting a response.

The Tigers got the first of three infield singles Michael Murphy would have on the day, Daniel Lukancic also reached on a perfectly placed hit on the infield, and Brayden Myers loaded the bases by coaxing a walk.

Schwarting then swatted a ball deep in the left-field gap, plated all three runs with a double and then came around to score to give Joliet West a 4-1 advantage.

Lockport drew things even in its half of the fourth inning. The Porters got singles from Jack Skerzpiec and Kaden O’Leary, and then Joliet West misplayed a bunt attempt by Jack Schick into a three-base error where both Skerzpiec and O’Leary scored.

Connor Ryan’s infield single would plate Schick, and the two teams were deadlocked at four-all.

But just as before, Joliet West responded to the opposition’s offense with more offense of its own. Bobby Malinowski started the frame with an infield hit, and then a walk to Andrew Markun and a bunt single from Issac Harris loaded the bases with no outs.

Lukancic got the first run home with a sacrifice fly, and Myers brought home two more with a two-out triple to give Joliet West a 7-4 lead. It looked like that lead might hold up for the duration, but the Tigers weren’t quite able to close out Lockport in the seventh inning.

Adam Kozak reached on a infield single, and after a stolen base and a strikeout, Drew Satunas drove Kozak home with a single.

The second out was recorded on a fly out, but Kaden O’Leary’s double put Lockport baserunners at second and third with two out, and Schick made sure the outcome was not resolved at that moment by delivering a double that tied the score at seven.

Both teams threatened in the eighth, and Lockport put together a rally in the top of the ninth that was squelched before Bobby Malinowski delivered his heroics in the bottom of the ninth to give Joliet West its first title in the 20 years the tournament has been contested.

Joliet Township, a combined effort of Joliet Central and Joliet West, shared the 2007 crown with Providence.

It was a whirlwind of a three-day period for Joliet West, which won an extra-inning game over Lincoln-Way Central 1-0 in the quarterfinals before fending off Minooka 5-4 in the semifinals.

“We just stayed calm,” Joliet West coach John Karczewski said. “I don’t really change my emotion, just kind of stay calm and remain that way the whole game, and I think that it has worked well with this group.

“I mean if you saw our three games in this tournament, all of them could have gone either way. And I think keeping that levelheadedness maybe helped us stay under control. We never got too high or too low and were able to come through in the end.”

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Joliet West poses with the championship plaque after beating Lockport in the WJOL Don Ladas Memorial baseball tournament championship game on Saturday, April 4, 2026 in Joliet. (Gary Middendorf)

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