Naperville C. in no hurry to claim sectional title
Naperville Central softball coach Andy Nussbaum has preached to his team, "I don't care if it takes 18 innings, as long as we win."
He gladly accepted half that Saturday.
The No. 2 seed Redhawks scored 3 runs in the top of the ninth and beat No. 1 seed Lockport 3-0 in the Class 4A Neuqua Valley sectional final for the school's first sectional championship in 20 years.
Naperville Central (30-6), which plays Bartlett at 4:30 p.m. Monday at the Benedictine University supersectional, has won its last three playoff games in its last at bat. The Redhawks beat West Aurora 1-0 in 10 innings in the regional final, and scored the game's only run in the bottom of the sixth in its sectional semifinal win over Benet.
"I thought we might be here a while today," Nussbaum said.
A scoreless duel between Naperville Central's Natalie Wunderlich and Dana Bowler of Lockport through eight innings, Megan Silke singled to lead off the Redhawks' ninth. On a Meghan Griffin bunt, courtesy runner Ashley Grach beat the lead throw to second. A wild throw to first on Jori Gonzalez's bunt attemt loaded the bases with none out. Bowler retired the next two batters, but Redhawks freshman Nicole Kappelman took a 3-2 pitch high and inside for a walk to score Grach.
"I had to have a good eye, make sure it was a strike and make sure it was my pitch," Kappelman said. "It was up and in and I didn't like it, so I didn't go for it. As soon as we got that first run, I knew we were going to win."
Kelsey Gonzalez then singled past a diving second baseman to score Griffin and Jori Gonzalez, making it 3-0.
Wunderlich (20-5) retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth, wrapping up her fourth straight shutout. Two days after no-hitting Benet, Wunderlich allowed just 2 hits with zero walks, striking out five.
"I thought it'd be tough for her to top Thursday," Nussbaum said, "but I think she did today."
"We were just determined to win," Wunderlich said. "I just had to think of the extra innings like any other innings. Keep shutting them down and do what I did the first seven innings."
Lockport's (29-7) best chance to score came in the third. Kacey Rogers singled leading off and advanced to third on consecutive groundouts. But Wunderlich coaxed another grounder to end the inning. The Redhawks defense was flawless again, playing its fourth straight error-free game of the playoffs.
"We have a strong enough defense to depend on our defense," shortstop Kelsey Gonzalez said, "and know that if Natalie's not going to get all those strikeouts she has her defense behind her, to keep us in the games."