W. Chicago within sight of DuPage Valley crown

West Chicago's Wildcats are one step closer to a DuPage Valley Conference softball title -- by a whisker.

Linnea Detrick's infield hit scored Kaity Olson with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, giving the Wildcats a 1-0 win over Naperville Central on Saturday in West Chicago.

West Chicago (16-8, 9-3) pulled a game ahead of Naperville Central (16-6, 8-4). Both teams have two conference games left.

"We can see it (a conference championship)," said winning pitcher Mary Connolly, "but we have to stay tough. You can't look past any team in the DVC."

Connolly and Naperville Central's Natalie Wunderlich went pitch-by-pitch for seven innings. Neither allowed a runner past second base.

Olson led off the eighth with a check-swing single over third base. Taylor Kutilek and Izzy Bruce bunted Olson over to second and third, bringing up Detrick.

Detrick hit a hard groundball in the hole between second and third and beat out Lizzy Ploen's throw to first as Olson came home.

"I was thinking every girl ahead of me did their job, moving her over," Detrick said, "so I should do mine."

"We finally got a kid on with less than two outs and we were able to do some things with it," West Chicago coach Jim Schaudt said. "Anytime you can get a kid on third it puts pressure on the other team."

Naperville Central, which lost its third 1-0 game on the road in conference, got a runner to second in three of the first five innings without scoring. Maggie Buoy walked to lead off the Redhawks' eighth and was sacrificed to second, but Connolly alertly threw her out at third on a comebacker.

"We didn't have many opportunities," Redhawks coach Andy Nussbaum said, "but when we did we didn't cash in."

Wunderlich (14-5) struck out nine for Naperville Central, which lost to West Chicago 2-1 in nine innings earlier this season.

"Natalie pitched great and we fielded the ball well," Nussbaum said. "I'm proud of the way the girls fought. We played well enough to win."

Connolly (15-6), who threw her sixth shutout in conference games, struck out 11. West Chicago plays at Glenbard North on Monday and hosts Wheaton Warrenville South Wednesday. With two wins the Wildcats can clinch the school's first DVC title since 2001.

"I told the girls to celebrate this once this weekend and get ready to get back to work on Monday," Schaudt said. "We haven't done anything yet."