Double Play
Clarendon Hills Softball brings home two state championships
Clarendon Hills Little League (CHLL) is taking the Illinois youth softball community by storm. With a thriving program that has produced a string of state championships, they’ve become a force to be reckoned with statewide.
The CHLL Softball league started in 2017 with 42 players across four teams and has since grown to 425 girls aged 5–12 from Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills, Westmont, and Oak Brook. This summer, both the 8–10-year-old and 9–11-year-old All-Star teams clinched their respective state titles.
“We’re definitely playing at a high level and feeling like we’re firing on all cylinders now,” 9–11 Year-Old All-Star Head Coach Scott Sikorski said.
After four days of tournament play in Milan, Illinois, the CHLL 8–10 Year-Old All-Star team nabbed a 12–9 victory to win the Illinois State Championship on July 21. That same day, the 9–11 Year-Old All-Star team secured its own state championship title in Brookfield, Illinois, with a dominant 9–0 shutout win, marking CHLL’s fourth consecutive state title in this age group. Many of these players were on the 2025 8–10 Year-Old championship-winning team, making them back-to-back state champions as they advanced to the next age division.
11U Team: Front row: (from L to R) coaches Scott Sikorski, Kristin Wiklund, John Rante, and mascot dog Jack Hadden
Players (from L to R): Emma Snow, Charlotte Sunderson, Savannah Wiklund, Maddie Tompkins, Ava Nolan, Maddie Wenzel, Morgan Hadden, Madelyn Rante, Chloe Carey, Livi Sikorski, Anna LePenske, and Cameron Wright Photo courtesy of Lori Horne Photography
The 10–12 Year-Old All-Star team also played in their Illinois State Championship Game, marking an impressive accomplishment for CHLL: Over the past two seasons, CHLL advanced to all six Illinois Little League State Championship games and won four state titles.
“It’s been exciting and rewarding,” Sikorski said. “We’ve been playing with these girls since the days of … tee ball and being on practice squads, and [now we] see them just truly develop and shine.”
Sikorski, who has coached CHLL teams for six years, said it’s been great to see so many players pursue softball in high school.
“They rely on us almost like a feeder system,” Sikorski said. “We’re developing the talent, and then the high school is able to benefit from these girls playing.”
But it’s about more than joining a high school team: It’s about teamwork, resilience, friendship, self-confidence, falling in love with the game, and being part of something special.
“At the end of the day, we just want these girls to be out there having fun, playing the sports that they love, and just hopefully becoming better athletes, better people along the way,” Sikorski said.
Still, the results speak for themselves. With a growing collection of trophies and impressive local support from the Village of Clarendon Hills and the community, it’s no wonder the league has grown into what it is today.
“It’s just one of those things where success seems to breed success,” Sikorski said. “Our visibility in the paper, our visibility in town has certainly just been drawing a crowd, which is great to see.”
To learn more about Clarendon Hills Little League Softball, visit chll.net.
