Naperville Central ousts West Aurora in 10
Natalie Wunderlich and Steph Becker are club teammates during the high school softball off-season.
The two battle-hardened warriors threw nothing but goose eggs at the Class 4A West Aurora regional final on Saturday morning for nine innings.
Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum had to devise a way to break the extra-inning scoreless tie. The Redhawks loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning, and pinch-runner Ashley Grach did the rest.
The senior, with Erin Graham breaking for second to elicit a throw from Becker, raced home and slid under the tag of Maribeth Vasquez to give the Redhawks the dramatic 1-0 win in Aurora.
"That play was the last thing we worked on in practice (on Friday)," Nussbaum said. "Billy Martin, God rest his soul, I stole it from him."
With its third victory over West Aurora this spring, second-seeded Naperville Central (28-6) advances to play No. 3 Benet on Thursday afternoon at the Neuqua Valley sectional. Eight-seeded West Aurora bowed out at 17-17.
Wunderlich was masterful all day against her league rivals, allowing 4 hits in the complete-game victory to pick up her 18th win.
"(Becker and I) have played like a hundred and some games together," Wunderlich said. "We've definitely had our fair share of (extra-inning games in the past). My curveball worked best today."
West Aurora mounted its most serious threat in the top of the sixth inning. Freshman LaRi Martin doubled down the left-field line and moved into third with no outs on a wild pitch.
But Wunderlich induced an infield pop to retire one batter, and after Devin Vaughn reached on a fielder's choice, the Eastern Illinois recruit stymied the Blackhawks' threat with a strikeout and come-backer.
A similar scenario played out in the Redhawks' sixth when Graham doubled to deep right center, but Vasquez tagged out Graham trying to score on a one-out squeeze play. Becker, who recorded 15 strikeouts for the second consecutive postseason game, retired Naperville Central in order for the first time to send the contest into extra innings.
"(Becker) has always been so tough on us," said Nussbaum of the Mississippi State-bound standout.
Kristina Vizza opened the Redhawks' 10th with a single, and Grach moved into third two outs later on back-to-back infield singles by Stephanie Lynch and Graham.
"Tough way to end the season," West Aurora coach Dave Zine said. "We still had time to get (Grach) at home, but we hesitated."
"The only reason I threw to first was that I heard a bunch of people yelling," Becker said. "I threw it, and I noticed what Naperville Central's play was."