Redhawks' gamble pays off in victory

Images of West Chicago scoring a run from second base to win a key conference game last year still burns in Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum's brain.

He wasn't going to play it safe on the bases Thursday.

Redhawks senior Maggie Buoy came home from second base with the go-ahead run on a ball hit in the infield in the bottom of the sixth of Naperville Central's 3-2 win over Downers Grove South.

"I wasn't planning on her stopping," Nussbaum said. "We were going to take the gamble."

Buoy reached on a fielder's choice with one out in a 2-2 tie and moved to second on a wild pitch. Meghan Griffin then hit a humpback liner to second. As the second baseman paused to throw to first, Buoy rounded third. Buoy slid in safely just ahead of the tag.

"I knew there were two outs," said Buoy, perhaps the Redhawks' fastest player, "so you had to go on anything. We talked the other day in practice that you shouldn't stop, just keep going, and (Nussbaum) just kept waving me around. Be aggressive and hope for the best."

"Our second baseman kind of hesitated with the ball," Downers Grove South coach Ron Havelka said. "If she doesn't look at first and throws immediately home I think she's out, but you have to know that. I can't fault her. It was a bang-bang play at the plate."

Marissa Mersch reached on an infield single to lead off the Downers Grove South seventh and stole second. With two outs Brooke Andresen was hit by a pitch from Naperville Central's Natalie Wunderlich, but Wunderlich came back to strike out Katie Jelinek to end the game. Downers Grove South (7-2) left eight runners on base.

"You get that many runners on against (Wunderlich), you have to do something," Havelka said. "You don't get a lot of chances against her."

Wunderlich's command wasn't her sharpest facing one of the best hitting teams in the area - but she did steer clear of big trouble. Wunderlich (5-1), who hadn't allowed more than 1 run in her first four starts, walked 4 and hit 2 batters. She did strike out nine.

"I'm not sure Natalie had her best stuff today. Part of that could be out of respect for your opponent," Nussbaum said. "But she got outs when she had to get outs."

Wunderlich's run-scoring double gave Naperville Central (6-1) a 1-0 lead in the first, and Megan Silke's bad-hop hit past third base in the third inning scored Erin Graham with a second run. Downers Grove South tied it in the fourth on two walks, a bunt single by Kayla Gull and a pair of RBI groundouts. Stephanie Lynch had 2 hits for Naperville Central.