Downers Grove South rally catches Naperville Central

Two great teams and two great pitchers meant Thursday's nonconference softball game in Naperville had a chance to be a great contest. And it was.

Visiting Downers Grove South stayed perfect on the spring at 11-0, but the Mustangs' 3-2 win over Naperville Central was anything but easy. The visitors had to rally from a 2-0 deficit to Redhawks pitcher Julie Kestas after five innings, then needed to throw a Redhawks runner out at the plate in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the tight triumph.

"It was exciting. It was great," Downers South coach Ron Havelka said after his team managed to escape a first-and-third, no-out situation in the bottom of the seventh. "We executed … it was two real good pitchers and Naperville Central is a real good team. Of course we're both in same sectional again, and they've got a fine team."

The Mustangs opened the game with a double off the bat of Kristen Bialek and a single by Kristen Lea, as both left-handed batters took Kestas offerings and slashed the ball the opposite way to left. But Kestas then struck out three in a row to leave the runners stranded. Kestas then held the Mustangs without another hit until the sixth inning.

The Redhawks, meanwhile, finally put an end to the scoreless contest by tallying twice off Caroline Hedgcock (6-0) in the fourth, and the 2-0 score stood until Downers South scored three runs in the sixth.

Naperville Central (5-2), which is making a habit of one-run games, opened its half of the fourth with singles from Lisa Tassi and Abbey Place, before Hedgcock recorded a pair of strikeouts. But Redhawks first baseman Caitlyn Patton came up with a clutch hit to right field that drove home Tassi with the game's first run and also Place, who was tagged out trying to score but was ruled safe at the plate after the umpire ruled she was obstructed while rounding third.

The Mustangs, however, battled back in the sixth after Bialek and Lea snapped the team's four-inning hitless drought against Kestas by opening the inning with two more hits from the top of the order. Hedgcock's high, deep fly to right field was dropped allowing a pair of runs to score. When Zahrya McFarland followed with a sacrifice fly to right, it was 3-2 and the visitors had all the runs they needed.

Of course there was some drama in the bottom of the seventh after Patton singled again and Carolyn Metcalfe's sacrifice bunt was thrown high to first base. It gave the Redhawks runners at the corners with no outs. But Patton was thrown out at the plate on a close play while trying to score on a grounder to shortstop Megan LoBianco, whose throw home just did beat the sliding Patton.

"That is our fifth consecutive one-run game," Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum said. "If we learn anything we should learn that there's a razor-thin difference between winning and losing. We just made mistakes that you can't make when you're playing a really good team."

Kestas, who dropped to 4-2 on the year, said her team could take away some bright spots from Thursday's game.

"I definitely think there is a positive out of this," she said after the tough loss. "The defense behind me was great today, and I'm really proud of my offense for working hard. They're a great team. I'd play them nine times out of 10. If I wanted to play a team it would definitely be Downers South."

The hard-throwing Hedgcock was happy to survive a tough challenge while staying unbeaten so far in 2015.

"Naperville Central's a great team and Julie Kestas, she's a great pitcher," the junior pitcher said. "Our goal was just to come out here as a team and play our hardest; make the routine plays and come out and hit. I'm glad we did."