Neuqua Valley clinches UEC title in extra innings
There's only one place to start in a crazy baseball game like this - the end.
Neuqua Valley's Chris Widup drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth and then capped 12/3 innings of scoreless relief pitching in the bottom half as the Wildcats claimed the outright Upstate Eight Conference title with Friday's 11-9 win over Waubonsie Valley in Aurora.
Much was on the line in an intra-district game featuring three lead changes. Had the Warriors (17-14, 16-8) won, they would have clinched a share of the conference title.
In turn today Neuqua Valley (23-11, 17-6) would have been forced to complete a suspended game against South Elgin in hopes of forging its own share of the UEC title.
Instead, however, the Wildcats pulled out a wild win and get to enjoy the day off. After what happened Friday, both teams could use the rest.
"We worked hard this entire season and we played as a team today," Widup said. "We came up big when it mattered. We did this as a team."
Neuqua Valley rallied from a 4-0 first-inning deficit to take a 5-4 lead in the fifth, but the Warriors tied it in the bottom of the fifth and scored twice in the sixth to take a 7-5 lead.
The Wildcats reclaimed a 9-7 lead in the seventh, taking advantage of a 2-run error, Joe Ippolito's RBI double and a run-scoring wild pitch. Waubonsie Valley answered with 2 runs on Trevor Romeo's sacrifice fly and Kris Singh's RBI double. The Warriors nearly broke through for the winning run, but Widup (4-2) came in and coaxed a double-play ball to escape the jam.
In the eighth inning an error, walk and bunt set the stage for Widup's sacrifice fly and a 10-9 Wildcats lead. Ippolito smacked another RBI double to make it 11-9.
"Give our kids credit, they played hard," said Warriors coach Dan Fezzuoglio. "They fought and fought, and that's all you can ask for. It came down to who made more plays late in the game, and they made more plays than us."
Six Wildcats batters had more than one of the team's 16 hits. Ippolito went 4-for-5 while Ryan Wagner and Mike Gerber each had 3 hits.
Kevin Kirchner went 3-for-5 with 2 triples for the Warriors. Sam Carius drove in 2 runs.
"I'm not sure people understand how difficult it is to win a conference championship," said Wildcats coach Robin Renner. "It's quite an accomplishment for these guys."
Benet 1, Brother Rice 0: John Boyle (8-2) pitched a 1-hitter with 7 strikeouts and 2 walks for the Redwings (20-11), who handed Brother Rice (28-2) just its second loss. Alex Staehely drove in 2 runs.
Downers South 4, Wheaton North 2: Joey White went 3-for-4 and Ashton Smith pitched 5 innings to earn the win for the Mustangs (24-9) over the Falcons (24-5).