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The instructions given to Pete Flores, a first-year Utah assistant, were clear and simple: Don't laugh when you see him during warmups.

That's because it's so easy for Stephen Strasburg, who made 94-95 mph fastballs look effortless in between innings (Sunday column here).

"You hope that you just (can) put a ball in play and the defense is on their heels because they haven't seen a groundball or a flyball," said Flores, a DuPage Dragons assistant. "That's one of the things you hope for."

If that sounds desperate, then consider that the year before Strasburg struck out 23 Utes in one game.

"There's a big YouTube video on that," Flores said.

Neuqua Valley, the top seed in the Oswego East Sectional, was assigned to the Batavia Regional and will face the winner of the Naperville North-Benet opening round game, the IHSA announced Friday. In order to win a regional championship, the Wildcats may have to defeat No. 9 Batavia on its own floor.

As a regional host, No. 2 Naperville Central will enjoy home-court advantage. But in order to advance, it could have to beat seventh-seeded West Aurora for a third time this season.

In the East Aurora Regional, No. 12 Waubonsie Valley will take on No. 21 Wheaton North for the right to face fifth-seeded Plainfield North.

If the brackets unfold true to form and all top-four seeds survive the regionals, Neuqua would meet East Aurora in one sectional semifinal, and Naperville Central would play Bolingbrook in the other. Regional play begins March 2.

A reader passed along a note to The Heat Index letting us know that a Naperville resident sang the national anthem before the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Aug. 8. Here is the clip of 16-year-old Lindsey Heckes belting out the star spangled banner. Although, this article says her name is Lindsay Heckes and her parents live in Lakeville. Either way, she can sing.

UPDATE: I'm told that Lindsey is the correct spelling and that she is a junior at Naperville North.

Candace Parker, the WNBA's shining star tried to give a Detroit Shock player a shiner on Tuesday night in a scuffle that ended with three players, including Parker, ejected.

Parker was one of three players ejected along with Detroit assistant coach Rick Mahorn after an ugly scuffle with 4.6 seconds left in Los Angeles' 84-81 victory.

"To be honest, I don't recall exactly what happened," said Parker, who led Los Angeles with 21 points. "I'll have to watch the tape."

The Associated Press saw it this way.

The skirmish started moments after Parker and Detroit's Cheryl Ford had to be separated after Ford fouled Parker.

Parker threw a punch at Pierson before being tackled by Detroit's Deanna Nolan. Players and coaches from both teams joined in, and Mahorn knocked Lisa Leslie to the court at one point.

At the 35 second mark you can see Candace Parker dunk for the last of her 22 points on Tuesday night. The Naperville Central graduate became the first WNBA player to dunk in back to back games.

"A lot of us have just seen history," Sparks Coach Michael Cooper said. "You're going to see more because Candace Parker is very, very good."

This is the first of two posts of an "In my own words" feature on FSN Prime Ticket, which is a cable network in the Los Angeles market. In his this interview Candace Parker tells her athletic life story, including describing herself as "a girly tomboy" when she was a youngster growing up in Naperville.

Parker also explained that Ron Harper, not Michael Jordan, was her favorite Bulls player.

In part two, Candace Parker backs down from singing a Little Mermaid song after claiming she new all of them. She also said the following phrase: "Grandma, you can't listen to Wu-Tang." That's good stuff.

Here is a clip of Naperville's Mackenzie Caquatto competing in the vault on Friday at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Philadelphia. Caquatto is sixth in vault after day one.

This video posted on Friday has highlights and interviews with Neuqua Valley cross country and track standout Chris Derrick. Though the graphics have his last name spelled Derick, we're pretty sure it's the same guy.

This slide show has nearly five minutes of Waubonsie Valley state championship girls soccer photography for your viewing pleasure. There are some funny voice bubbles added in too.

Benet walloped St. Ignatius 14-7 to win the Illinois High School Lacrosse Association "B" Lacrosse Cup contest on Sunday. This short video shows just how excited the Redwings were after the win. if anyone has the entire game, feel free to leave a link in the comments section so we can post it up.

Benet will play St. Ignatius on Sunday morning in the IHSLA B Lacrosse Cup at Toyota Park. This is the Redwings doing a rendition of the school song after their 13-3 semifinal win over Mundelein on Thursday.