Naperville Central's Wunderlich strikes out 13
Wheaton Warrenville South had to know it was in for a long day when its first five hitters struck out Friday.
Naperville Central pitcher Alyssa Wunderlich piled up 13 strikeouts in a 2-1 DuPage Valley Conference softball triumph in Wheaton.
"I knew they were a pretty good hitting team, and especially with a conference game I tried to keep mixing my pitches up, moving them around," Wunderlich said. "In and out, up and down, off-speed, everything like that."
"She was pretty sharp," Redhawks coach Andy Nussbaum added. "She made some good pitches when she had to when she was in a jam there."
The Redhawks (15-10, 5-4) haven't been scoring much lately, and with Wunderlich they didn't need much. They got just enough.
"We've got to figure out ways to get runs across, and I was pretty happy to see that today," Nussbaum said.
Wunderlich (11-6) led off the second inning with a single. Courtesy runner Abby Anaya advanced to second base on catcher Juliet Tassi's sacrifice bunt, then scored on Nicole Kappelman's two-out double that one-hopped the center-field fence.
The Redhawks made the lead 2-0 in the third inning, again getting their leadoff hitter on base. Second baseman Jori Gonzalez singled to center field and reached second base on an error. She went to third on Meghan Griffin's bloop single to right and scored on Megan Silke's fielder's choice.
"I'm really happy with Silke putting the ball in play, because then good things can happen when you put the ball in play," Nussbaum said. "That was a pretty key at-bat."
Tigers pitcher Julianne LaFleur (8-11) shut down the Redhawks from there, allowing just a hit and a walk the rest of the way.
"I thought Julianne pitched great. She held them to 5 hits," Tigers coach Denise McCance said.
The Tigers (13-14, 3-6) scored their run in the top of the seventh inning. Hannah Granger lined a single to left field. Pinch runner Sarah Skurla went to second base on Katie Ottolin's sacrifice bunt, then scored on Jess Wasser's two-out single to right center. But Wasser was stranded when Wunderlich got the last of her strikeouts.
"She's a great pitcher," McCance said. "Her sister (Natalie) was a good pitcher too. I just felt at the beginning we were not smart. We were swinging at pitches that were not strikes. She did a great job controlling us right from the beginning, and we played right into her hand and struck out."
Wunderlich credited Tassi, the freshman catcher who took over about three weeks ago.
"I really like her," Wunderlich said of Tassi. "She definitely made some key plays, especially with those foul-ball third strikes. She's awesome. She's doing great."