This time Naperville Central gets upper hand

As a brisk April wind howled on a sunny but cool afternoon in Aurora, thoughts of the summer drifted through Naperville Central's dugout.

Memories of a blowout loss to Waubonsie Valley in July's IHSBCA Elite Eight state tournament stayed with the Redhawks during Wednesday's rematch, but Naperville Central snagged a piece of revenge with a 7-6 baseball victory in a rivalry battle between two of the area's top teams.

"Last year they (beat us bad)," Redhawks senior Pat Kaminska said of the summer's 14-2 loss. "We knew they were a good ball team. It was good that we came out with the ballgame."

Naperville Central (2-0) seized a 4-0 lead through four innings behind the lights-out pitching of starter Dave Ludwig (1-0), who retired nine straight batters at one point.

A double steal of second and home allowed Matt Cmiel to score the first run. The Redhawks added 3 runs in the third, two scoring on a Mike Oles 2-run homer. Nick Linne singled home a run.

The Redhawks added a fifth run in the top of the fifth when Kaminska doubled home Marc Mantucca. In an interesting sidebar to the game, Kaminska smacked 4 doubles to tie an IHSA state record.

Waubonsie Valley (0-1) finally broke through against Ludwig in the fifth when starting pitcher Kris Singh (0-1) laced a 2-run double.

After Wesley Webb and Mantucca had RBI singles for the Redhawks, the Warriors really narrowed the gap in the bottom of the sixth by scoring 4 runs. A wild pitch brought home the first run before Trevor Romeo launched a 3-run home run to pull Waubonsie Valley within 7-6.

All 13 runs in the game were scored with two outs.

"Their strength, which they've already proven, is that they don't quit," Waubonsie Valley coach Dan Fezzuoglio said of his team. "They took advantage of our mistakes and that's the difference in the game. We were in a position to win the game."

Naperville Central brought in Kaminska to close out the game in the seventh. Despite Jonny Strauss singling to put the tying run on base, Kaminska struck out the final batter to earn the save.

"We're getting closer," said Redhawks coach Bill Seiple. "We have a chance to be pretty good."

BOX SCORE

Naperville Central 7, Waubonsie Valley 6

Naperville Central 103 012 0 -7-10-1

Waubonsie Valley 000 024 0 -6-6-3

2B: NC: Kaminska 4, Cmiel; WV: Singh, Carius.

HR: NC: Oles; WV: Romeo.

WP: Dave Ludwig (1-0); LP: Singh (0-1); Save: Kaminska.