West Chicago sweep keeps Naperville Central from DVC crown
Andy Nussbaum stood on the first-base bag and stared into the distance for several moments, no doubt pondering the events of the previous four hours.
Those events all added up to one big missed opportunity.
Needing two wins for an outright DuPage Valley Conference softball championship and just one to win a share of their first DVC title since 1989, Nussbaum’s No. 6 Naperville Central Redhawks were instead swept 10-7 and 6-5 by West Chicago on Thursday evening at West Chicago’s Pioneer Park.
West Chicago’s two wins, the first the resumption of a game suspended May 1, made Glenbard North (30-2, 12-2) DVC champ. The conference crown, a game away the last two years, again eluded Naperville Central (25-8, 11-3).
“I don’t what to say,” Nussbaum said. “It’s utterly disappointing.”
Like last year, the DVC race came down to a memorable final day. West Chicago once again was at the center of it. A year ago the Wildcats beat Wheaton Warrenville South in a 17-inning marathon to win it outright. This time West Chicago celebrated two wins under the lights on its Senior Night.
Wildcats junior Morgan Dastych, who homered in the first game, drove in the winning run in the second and was a magnet defensively at second base all night with 12 putouts, choked back tears savoring the moment.
“I’ve played with these (six) seniors since I was 6 years old,” Dastych said, “and they mean so much to me. Honestly, those two games are for them. We just kept fighting. That’s the best two games I’ve seen us play.”
After All-Area pitcher Mary Connolly graduated, many expected West Chicago to take a big step back this year. Instead the Wildcats (22-11, 10-4) came a win away from a piece of a fourth DVC title in five years.
“I think this might be a little more special than the two conference titles,” Dastych said. “Nobody thought we were gonna be how we were this year. That we came together the way we did, it feels so great.”
Naperville Central was its own worst enemy Thursday, leaving 22 runners on base over the two games. Even more glaring, the Redhawks committed 9 errors in Game 1 which led to 5 unearned runs. West Chicago made contact, kept the pressure on and Naperville Central struggled to field bunts and grounders at an inopportune time.
“I don’t think we’ve had two games that bad defensively all year,” Nussbaum said. “We put our pitchers in situations where they had to be perfect. Our pitchers are good, but they are not perfect.”
Still, the Redhawks were nine outs away from salvaging a split. Kelsey Gonzalez, who had 6 hits and reached base 8 times over the two games, singled in Nicole Kappelman and Maddi Doane in the fourth inning of Game 2 for a 4-2 lead, and Juliet Tassi doubled in Keegan Hayes to make it 5-2 in the fifth.
But in the bottom half, West Chicago’s small ball caved in on the Redhawks. Bunt singles by No. 9 hitter Arielle McComb and Casey Christ loaded the bases with one out, and Rachel Johnson lined a two-run single back through the box into center to make it 5-4. Amanda Gosbeth shot a single to right to bring in Christ with the tying run, and a Dastych groundout scored Johnson to make it 6-5.
“That fifth inning,” Nussbaum said, “was a disaster.”
“We brought out the bats tonight,” West Chicago coach Kim Wallner said. “I don’t know if I’ve done the (small ball) enough this year, because we do have some speed up and down the lineup.”
Tarah Rayos was 3-for-3 with 3 RBI for West Chicago in the first game, and Gosbeth was 3-for-3 in Game 2. Laura Dierking was 4-for-4 with a homer in the first game and doubled in a run in the second for Naperville Central.