Naperville North advances to sectional final
Kathleen Hahne doesn’t know why she usually needs a few batters to settle into a game.
Naperville North won’t argue with Wednesday’s results.
After two wild innings dominated by offenses, Hahne shut down Plainfield East and the No. 6 seed Huskies advanced to their first sectional final in program history with a 5-2 win at East Aurora’s Phillips Park.
Hahne (18-9) allowed just 4 singles over the last five innings while the Huskies (24-12) surged ahead.
“It’s not the way I like to start things,” said Hahne, who struck out three, “but I like a little excitement I guess. I always get nervous before games. It takes me a few batters to get into my own.”
Hahne had plenty of support backing her up.
In the second inning center fielder Caitlyn Warren threw a runner out at the plate to keep the score 2-2. Then in the fourth, after a one-out Plainfield East single, Tara Degl’Innocenti and Alexis Solak combined for a slickly turned 4-6-3 double play.
Buoyed by her defense, Hahne set down the next seven batters until a one-out bloop single in the seventh.
“I know that whenever I get a little excited, a little out of my game I can look to my defense to have my back,” Hahne said. “They’ll do whatever I need them to do.”
“Everybody settled in, and we made the plays that we had to make,” Huskies coach Jerry Kedziora said. “Besides one second-inning error, our defense played. We played great defense.”
Naperville North knows it can hit and knew it had a capable opponent on its hands. The two teams split a doubleheader in April, combining for 39 runs over the two games.
After Plainfield East (22-12) went ahead 1-0 in the first, the Huskies quickly struck back. Steph Tobin singled and with two outs Degl’Innocenti lined a full-count offering for a two-run homer to left.
A Degl’Innocenti double highlighted the go-ahead rally in the third, Kailee Budicin’s grounder scoring Warren to make it 3-2. Warren later tripled in Tobin in the fifth and scored on another Budicin grounder.
“We always seem to be the underdog,” Degl’Innocenti said, “so it feels really good to get this win. We knew they were going to come out hitting, but we knew we were the better hitting team.”
The Huskies, already owners of a program record for wins and now the first sectional win, are in no mood to stop now. They’d love to match the school’s girls soccer state qualifier.
“Absolutely, we’re not satisfied right now,” Kedziora said. “We got an opportunity to do what no team has ever done before here, is put a sectional plaque on the wall and get a chance to get one game away from a state appearance. The way our girls spring sports have been going, it would be fun to join them. We have some seniors who are not ready to finish up high school yet.”