Naperville Central wins, but West Chicago takes title
A hit here or an out there and Andy Nussbaum figured his Naperville Central Redhawks are the ones playing for a conference championship Thursday.
Spoiling it for Glenbard North had to suffice.
The Redhawks scored 3 fourth-inning runs and Kristina Vizza struck out 11 in a 3-2 win over Glenbard North in Carol Stream.
The loss for Glenbard North (20-8, 9-5 DuPage Valley Conference) gives West Chicago (24-9, 10-4) its second outright DVC championship in three years.
"We were one game short of beating every team," said Nussbaum, whose team lost twice to West Chicago, "and if we had beaten every team we'd be conference champs. We played real well, we pitched real well and we finally scored some runs. That's a great win for us."
Glenbard North, which swept West Chicago in their two games, had two golden opportunities to share the conference go by the wayside. West Chicago lost to Wheaton Warrenville South last Friday and Naperville North on Wednesday. But Glenbard North dropped its last two conference games.
"It just seemed like something was missing," Glenbard North coach Josh Sanew said. "It's more or less a championship game today; I don't know how you can have anything missing.
"We gotta get them ready to go (for regionals) on Wednesday; hopefully we can get hot and make a run."
Naperville Central (19-15, 8-6) came in on a four-game losing streak, shut out in its last three. The Redhawks busted out in the fourth inning. Katie Walker and Megan Silke singled with one out, and both moved up on a pitch in the dirt. Alyssa Wunderlich then singled off the second baseman's glove into right, scoring both runners.
A wild pitch moved the runner to second and Jill Andreoni's grounder went under the second baseman's glove to score courtesy runner Abby Anaya for a 3-0 lead.
"When's the last time we got 3 hits in a row?" Nussbaum asked rhetorically. "Those were all huge hits. Our pitching is such that if we get 3 runs we should win."
Meanwhile, Vizza held Glenbard North's potent lineup scoreless until Alexis Simone's two-out RBI single in the fifth. An illegal pitch moved the runner to third, but Vizza struck out the next batter.
Vizza (5-6) got the first 2 of her strikeouts called on changeups and had the Panthers swinging through high heat.
"They're a really good hitting team and I came out knowing that," Vizza said. "I gave it my all. The changeup is my best pitch. I just go off of that."
Alyssa Jasinski's solo homer to center, her sixth of the year, pulled Glenbard North within a run with two out in the sixth. But Vizza set down the last four batters, three striking out.
Glenbard North was held to fewer than 4 runs for just the fifth time this season.
"We didn't put any pressure on them defensively by hitting the ball. They didn't really have to make any plays," Sanew said. "We had a lot of overswinging. We chased a lot of high pitches to help her out a little bit today. She threw a great game, but our approach at the plate just was not very good at all."