Softball: Neuqua Valley shuts out Willowbrook
Neuqua Valley led 4-0 after five innings in Wednesday night's softball semifinal against Willowbrook in the Class 4A East Aurora regional at Phillips Park.
However, in softball a team can never get a enough runs, especially in postseason play. The Wildcats erupted for five runs in the bottom of the sixth to put a permanent seal on a 9-0 victory.
Neuqua, seeded seventh in the Oswego sectional, moves on to face second-seeded Downers Grove North in the regional final at 11 a.m. Saturday. The Trojans won the first semifinal game, beating Naperville North 8-2.
The Wildcats (21-8) had just five hits over the first four innings but finished with eight in the their last two innings.
"You get more confident. One starts hitting and then everyone starts hitting," said Bailey Clarke, who scored her team's first run of the game and finished with two hits.
Clarke led off the third with a double to center. She stole third and scored on a throwing error trying to get her.
Neuqua made it 4-0 in the fifth. With one out catcher Danielle Olson singled to left. Kelsey O'Connor, running for her, came home on Abby Meeks' double. Meeks scored on Paige Price's double. Price made it home for the final run of the inning on Chloe Steinhaus' infield hit.
The Wildcats kept their bats hot with five runs on four hits in the sixth. A 2-run triple by Steinhaus, a 2-run single by Price and an RBI basehit by Carina Martinez were the big hits of the inning.
Winning pitcher Zoe Herdman threw a 1-hitter and struck out six. She set the Willowbrook lineup down in order five innings.
"(An inning like the sixth) helps a lot as a pitcher. I have an amazing team behind me, but when you score that many runs you can pitch differently. You can work the corners more," Herdman said.
Neuqua faced Downers Grove North on May 1, losing 9-5.
"(The Trojans) are a very good team. We will need a solid effort," said Wildcats coach Christina Chrencik.
The 10th-seeded Warriors finish the season 17-12. The team's lone hit came from Amy Bussa, a single to center in the fifth.
The two teams faced each other in a regional opener in 2017 with Neuqua winning big, and Willowbrook coach Rachel Karos said the Warriors had a better showing this time around.
"The score did not represent the way we played. Neuqua is a tough team. This was a little bit better. It was a good four or five innings for us," she said.
The Warriors return a good portion of this season's roster and that makes Karos optimistic about 2019. Starting pitcher Caroline Dooley winning 15 games as a freshman is an example of some of that experience returning.
"We won nine or 10 more games this year. The words that come to mind is people need to be ready for us. We're a developing program," Karos said.