Raiders ready to tumble after split with Redhawks

Glenbard South softball assistant coach Kris Morton promised to do cartwheels if the Raiders scored in extra innings.

"I'd do backwards somersaults for a win right now," joked Glenbard South head coach Julie Fonda.

All the Raiders were jumping for joy in the 10th inning, as Brianna Meath doubled in Lauren Podgorski to beat Naperville Central 5-4 in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader in Glen Ellyn to snap a five-game losing streak. Naperville Central won the first game 2-1.

"We've had a tough start," Meath said, "but hopefully we can take off from here."

Podgorski walked with one out off Naperville Central ace Natalie Wunderlich (4-1), in her fourth inning of relief of sister Alyssa Wunderlich. Podgorski stole second and Meath belted Wunderlich's two-strike pitch the opposite way to left for the game-winner.

"I love inside pitches," said the Raiders freshman, who was 3-for-5 in the second game, "so I was just waiting for my pitch. Facing her in the first game, I could see what she threw. She came inside on me and I hit it."

Glenbard South (2-8) twice held 2-run leads on previously unbeaten Naperville Central (5-1) and was one out away from the win in the seventh ahead 4-2 when Natalie Wunderlich stroked a clutch 2-run triple to score Kelsey Gonzalez and Maggie Buoy.

"I told the girls all day long that the Wunderlich girls were first-pitch hitters," Fonda said. "I know. I was their hitting coach for a year. We have to learn from that."

Two days after striking out 20 in a 12-inning win over Benet, Alyssa Wunderlich fanned eight of Glenbard South's first nine hitters. But the Raiders strung together three straight extra-base hits to start the fourth inning, Jenny Wittenberg ripping a 3-2 pitch for a 2-run triple to score Podgorski and Meath.

"I've said it all along, we're a good team," Fonda said, "and when it clicks there's going to be trouble. I'm glad to take our lumps now instead of at the end of the season."

Alyssa Wunderlich's single in the sixth tied it at 2-2, and Glenbard South scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the inning. Alyssa Wunderlich struck out 14 in six innings.

Natalie Wunderlich fanned 9 batters in the first game, Naperville Central's third 2-1 win this week. Wunderlich and Erin Graham had RBI hits in the sixth to break up a scoreless tie.

"We just don't seem to be cashing in on enough opportunities," said Redhawks coach Andy Nussbaum, whose team left four runners in scoring position in the second game. "On the other hand Wunderlich's and Graham's hits in the first game were timely hits. And Natalie's hit in the seventh inning was great clutch hitting."