Naperville Central's Dierking swings for the fences
Laura Dierking might need help recalling the details of her first high school swing. It sure was a memorable one.
The Naperville Central freshman's 2-run homer ignited a 6-run Redhawks third inning, and Alyssa Wunderlich fired a no-hitter in frigid conditions for an 8-0, five-inning win over Waubonsie Valley on Thursday in Aurora.
A pitch after failing to get a sacrifice bunt down, Dierking sent a screaming liner on an 0-2 offering over the fence in left for a 2-0 Redhawks lead. Dierking stumbled and fell rounding first, not seeing the ball clear the fence, then gathered herself to trot home.
"I was a little overanxious," a giddy Dierking said, "and I tripped. I'm kind of known to do that." Dierking has hit inside-the-park homers pre-high school but this was different.
"Not over the fence. The places I played didn't have fences," Dierking said. "It felt good. I could feel it the second I hit it."
Dierking's deep ball opened the floodgates for a very un-Redhawks-like offensive outburst.
A Jori Gonzalez double scored Jill Andreoni, Meghan Griffin singled in Gonzalez and Megan Silke crushed a homer over the left-field fence to make it 6-0. The Redhawks sent 10 batters to the plate in the third inning, their 8 runs the most scored in a game since last year's season-opener against Bolingbrook.
Wunderlich added a ground-rule run-scoring double and freshman Juliet Tassi an RBI single in the fifth.
"We hit the ball like it was 70 degrees," Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum said. "That ball Dierking hit was pretty hard."
Wunderlich combined with sister Natalie for a no-hitter in that Bolingbrook game last year. On Thursday she rebounded from a season-opening 6-3 loss to Bolingbrook.
Wunderlich (1-1) wiggled out of a first-inning jam from a one-out walk and passed ball, overwhelming Waubonsie's hitters. Wunderlich struck out 10 in five innings, Waubonsie's only other baserunner coming courtesy of a second-inning error.
"The other day I pitched more safe, and I didn't mix it up as well as I did today," Wunderlich said. "I definitely learned from it. I talked to my older sister a lot after that game and she reminded me to keep mixing it up, to keep them off-balance. This today is Central softball."
"I don't know that her stuff was any better than it was on Tuesday," Nussbaum said, "but I thought her location and her pitch selection was much better. She was great today."
Ryane Pappa and Bri Price were Waubonsie's lone baserunners. Lauren Thresh took the loss for the Warriors (0-1), striking out four.
"I couldn't have asked for more," first-year Waubonsie coach Jennifer Jennings said. "The girls played great defense, my pitchers were great. (Four) runs came from over-the-fence homers and we have a really short fence. We were all nervous today."