Naperville C. feeling super after Kaminska's walk-off homer

Naperville Central's survival in the Class 4A Lockport baseball sectional was brutal enough, but surviving the celebratory dogpile after Saturday's title game looked far more difficult.

As the mobile mosh pit meandered down the third-base line, senior Pat Kaminska eventually emerged unscathed from his walk-off solo home run that gave Naperville Central a thrilling 5-4 eight-inning victory over Providence.

"How cool was that, huh?" said Redhawks coach Bill Seiple. "We've been winning in every different way. What a great game."

In more ways than one the fittest survived as the Redhawks (24-14) advanced to Monday's Illinois Wesleyan University supersectional in Bloomington to face O'Fallon.

It's Naperville Central second sectional title in program history, the previous one leading to the 2006 Class AA state championship.

"It was gone - it was pretty obvious, especially with the short fences here," Kaminska said of his second homer of the season. "I was trying to do it for everybody. I wasn't exactly planning on a home run, but that's what ends up happening sometimes."

Considering Providence (21-16) was the 16th seed at Lockport, No. 7 Naperville Central won perhaps the deepest sectional in the state.

Two worthy finalists took their best shots, starting with the Celtics' 3 runs in the top of the first inning against Redhawks sophomore starter Dan Ludwig, who recovered to pitch 5 strong innings.

Naperville Central tied it up in the bottom of the first, flashing the offense that pounded out 39 runs in three previous postseason games. Marc Mantucca singled home 2 runs and Kaminska's sacrifice fly tied it.

Mantucca tallied the go-ahead run in the third inning after reaching on an error and scoring on a double play.

Providence tied it 4-4 in the seventh when an error led to an RBI groundout off reliever Marc Mantucca, pitching his first game since April 28 due to a mild arm injury. After the Redhawks stranded two runners in the bottom of the seventh, Mantucca stranded the go-ahead run at third in the top of the eighth.

Kaminska led off the next inning. On a 2-and-0 count he sat on a fastball and rocketed it over the center-field fence.

It was a rare walk-off win for Naperville Central, which won the regional in two blowouts and claimed the sectional semifinal with a pitched gem by Kaminska. A little bit of everything, though, is fine with the Redhawks.

"It says a lot about our team," Mantucca said. "We are who we are. We'll play small ball, we'll hit some home runs. We'll do whatever it takes."