Fremd tops Naperville Central 3-2 to take third at state

EAST PEORIA - Fremd had a sweet cure for a bitter loss to Loyola on Friday night.

"We went out together and got ice cream," junior pitcher Lena Brottman said. "No matter what happens you stick together as a team. There's a billion ifs in softball. You still have to wake up the next morning and play another game."

After an eight-inning 1-0 loss to Loyola in the Class 4A state semifinals, the Vikings bounced back to beat Naperville Central 3-2 in a hotly-contested third-place game on Saturday at EastSide Centre.

Loyola's Devin Miller, who tossed her third perfect game of the season on Friday, shut out Edwardsville 2-0 in the 4A championship.

The third-place finish tops Fremd's previous best of fourth in 2000.

"We talked to the kids all offseason that we felt that our business last year was unfinished," said Fremd coach Jim Weaver. "And our business was to get here and win a state championship. I guess that business is still unfinished moving forward, but we'll take third."

Naperville Central (31-8), also no-hit on Friday, got on the board early in a big way.

Redhawks senior Stephanie Lynch drilled a one-out homer to right in the top of the first - the first of her career and only homer hit this weekend - for a 1-0 lead.

"To hit that in my last game, it's really exciting," Lynch said.

The lead was short-lived.

With Redhawks shortstop Kelsey Gonzalez out with a badly bruised wrist suffered Friday, Fremd leadoff hitter and junior catcher Kristine Werling smashed a hard-hit ball under the shortstop's glove.

Junior Jenny Schneider followed with a single and a one-out walk to senior Jessica Tackett loaded the bases.

An out later Fremd junior Alexa Cinquegrani dropped a 2-run single to short center, giving the Vikings a 2-1 lead.

"After last night," Cinquegrani said, "we wanted to start hitting as soon as possible."

The Vikings (33-5) scored a third run on an errant throw.

Just like on Friday, first-inning errors were the Redhawks' undoing.

Rare for a team that didn't commit an error in its first five playoff games.

"It's disappointing to play defensively like we've played and then come down here and play like this," said Redhawks coach Andy Nussbaum. "Erase the two first innings down here, that's the way we play."

Naperville Central pulled within a run in the fifth when Maggie Buoy slid under the catcher's tag on a single by Erin Graham.

But with runners on second and third and two outs, Brottman bore down to strike out Megan Silke on a full count.

Brottman (21-4), who struck out 11, also stranded runners on second and third in the fourth with two inning-ending punchouts.

"Your heart's racing, you're having trouble breathing," Brottman said. "But you just have to focus on the batter and do what you do."

"She didn't have a whole lot in the tank today," said Weaver, who guided the Vikings to a school-record 33 wins. "Lena hasn't thrown back-to-back days for a while but she gutted it out."

Naperville Central's Natalie Wunderlich (21-7) allowed just 3 baserunners the rest of the game. The Eastern Illinois-bound senior struck out five. Wunderlich, Lynch, Graham and Buoy were four senior starters on an otherwise young team making the school's first trip to state in 20 years.

"This," Lynch said, "has been the time of my life."