When someone logs on to Andrean's baseball Web site, coach Dave Pishkur hopes they get the same impression fans have when they come to the 59ers' field for the first time.

"Just like we want them to think, 'wow, this is a great park,' we want them to think, 'wow, this (site) is pretty special," Pishkur said. "It may not be Southern Cal, but it's pretty darn good."

High school and youth sports have jumped into cyber space, with numerous teams and clubs employing the Internet as a valuable communications tool.

"It's amazing how many have a site now," Pishkur said.

Andrean baseball and softball have arguably the best in the area, with Jennifer Guelinas of specialtyweb.net turning the ideas of Pishkur and softball coach Frank Podkul into reality.

"It's been a wonderful match," said Guelinas, whose Merrillville-based business is geared toward smaller companies and organizations. "They have the vision, I'm just a tool that brings it to life."

Guelinas played on Andrean's first softball team in 1986, but the Internet connection developed purely by coincidence. She sent out an advertisement about doing Web pages and Pishkur answered it. Podkul hopped on board soon after.

"What we were able to do even six years ago, with a basic Web presence, pales in comparison to what Jen's been able to do," Podkul said. "We kind of started with a pre-fab house and Jen brought the talent to put some cool curtains in the windows. With a little imagination, you can almost smell the popcorn."

Both sites blend the keys to a successful site -- style to catch attention and substance to keep it. The pages are colorful and lively, while also informational.

"You've got to give a little steak, not just the sizzle," Podkul said.

Portage's softball page also provides a mix of facts and flair.

"I do it for the girls," said Sue Kolczak, who works at Willowcreek Middle School with coach Jeff Smith. "It's their team, their life. I put on there what they would want. It's fun for me because I had a lot of the girls in class."

Not all prep sports sites are as refined and detailed, yet are no less purposeful. Crown Point's football page is mainly intended to keep players and parents up to speed with what's going on in the program.

"Our calendar's done months ahead, so nobody can come to us in June saying they didn't know there was a camp or something," assistant coach Mark Croell said. "It saves us so much time on just phone calls alone. All they have to do is go to the site."

Andy Niksich's Java Script class at Merrillville High School had a competition among teams of students last school year to build and design a gymnastics team Web page.

"All of the other teams had a site and gymnastics was kind of left out," senior Nick Makarowski said. "I didn't really know anything about gymnastics. The coaches gave us everything they wanted on there."

One of the unique concepts was downloadable screensavers and wallpaper of the gymnasts. However, most of the students graduated and the site has not been kept current.

Web pages aren't limited to prep sports. Eteams.net provides a foundation site widely used by youth organizations like Little League.

The Munster Seahorses Swim Club has a quality setup to get the word out on its successful program.

"We like it to stand out, to be a little different," volunteer Web master Patrick Gaskill said. "The original one was kind of basic, so we wanted to take it a direction more like the modern ones. What I like is it's a means to communicate with members of the club, to get them information and to see what's going on. It's almost necessary nowadays."