Softball: Naperville Central falls behind early, rallies to rout rival Naperville North
There seems to be no panic in this year’s Naperville Central softball team, even from a couple of freshmen who you’d think might need more time to settle in.
In Thursday’s cross-town battle with Naperville North, the Redhawks fell behind 2-0 yet had little trouble from there. Freshman pitcher Avery Miller settled down to allow just one more run in a 13-3, 5-inning affair, and fellow rookie Cali Lenz reached base safely all four times and scored three runs.
“Our team never gives up,” Redhawks coach Andy Nussbaum said after his team improved to 5-3 on the spring, 2-1 in the DuPage Valley Conference. “I think out of our five wins four of them are come from behind.”
A nice defensive play helped Miller escape the first inning without further damage, and the Redhawks’ bats took over from there, belted out 10 hits over the third and fourth innings and turned a 2-1 deficit into a 9-2 lead.
Huskies cleanup hitter Gabi Chmiel put the visitors up 2-0 with a double to right but was thrown out at third base trying to stretch it into a triple in that first inning.
“Honestly, I thought a key play and it seems silly when it’s 13-3, but us getting the relays and getting the out at third in the first inning was big,” Nussbaum said. “It was a pretty good throw from right field and then a pretty good throw by Meredith [Cann] to get the runner at third.”
From there Miller (2-1) trusted her defense and was aided by a Redhawks attack that recorded 14 hits and 5 walks in five innings.
“I trust my defense very well so I was very stress-free knowing I had a good defense,” said Miller, who finished with 4 strikeouts and 2 walks. “Especially since we’re all hitting. It helped us gain more confidence and this was definitely a good win for us.”
Naperville Central’s 2-3 hitters, Riley Silvers and Jamie Saran, have paced the team so far, but the left-handed Lenz looks quite comfortable in the cleanup spot for a freshman. Lenz followed up a 3-hit game Wednesday with 2 hits and 2 walks against the Huskie, including a triple that started the team’s 3-run outburst in the third that put them ahead for good.
“I try to work very hard at it,” Lenz said of her hitting. “I feel pretty good. I feel like I put in so much time that it just benefits. And everyone just supports each other and it’s so much fun just to be with all these girls.”
A young Naperville North squad fell to 4-9, 1-2, despite another solid effort from Olivia Hebron and Sara Rossi at the top of the order. Hebron had a double and scored twice and Rossi had two hits and a stolen base.
“Olivia is doing a great job at the top of the lineup, hitting over .400, and Sara Rossi started out in the nine spot and she’s worked her way up to two,” Naperville North coach Jerry Kedziora said. “She’s been hitting the ball hard and so have Maddi [Larson] and Gabi [Chmiel]. Our top four hitters have done a great job for us this year.”
The Huskies are looking for some growth from a young pitching staff and a defense that will be counted on more so than in recent years when the team boasted some dominating pitchers.
“It’s a young team. I’ll tell you what, we’ve got to learn to play defense. We haven’t had to play defense in a couple years,” Kedziora added. “We made errors and they beat us by 10. If we make some plays we may make it interesting. It really was a closer game than what it shows. They haven’t been in enough situations so they’re learning.”