Pitchers' duel results in Redhawks win

Neuqua Valley softball coach Michelle Schmidt was prepared for a long morning of good pitching.

"It could be 1-0, 17 innings," she said before Saturday's game against Naperville Central.

Natalie Wunderlich and Colleen Hohman didn't disappoint. A hard-hit ball to shorstop by Naperville Central's Megan Silke scored Erin Graham to give the Redhawks a 2-1 win in eight innnings in Saturday's doubleheader opener. Naperville Central rallied to take the second game 5-3.

Graham and Wunderlich singled with one out in the bottom of the eighth off Neuqua starter Hohman, putting runners at the corners. After taking a knee-buckling changeup for strike two, Silke smashed a hit that wasn't fielded cleanly by the drawn-in infield.

"I wanted to just put the ball in play," said Silke, a summer ball teammate of Hohman going back to age 10. "We go way back. She pitched good."

Wunderlich (6-1) was up to the challenge, striking out a season-high 16. Her only blemish was an unearned run in the fourth. Wunderlich is 5-0 in five starts the Redhawks have won by one run.

"I just kept mixing it up," she said. "They were crowding the plate to try to take away my screwball, but I kept throwing it. They think that gets in your head, but it doesn't. If anything it makes me throw harder."

Kelsey Gonzalez's RBI single in the fourth tied the game at 1-1. Hohman (4-2) struck out nine.

"We didn't face her last year, so I didn't know how good she was now," Wunderlich said, "but she's improved a lot. Her ball was moving a lot."

In Game 2 Neuqua Valley scored 3 runs in the third to take a 3-0 lead, five straight batters reaching on 2 walks, 2 errors and a Hohman RBI single. Stephanie Lynch tripled and scored in the bottom of the inning for Naperville Central. The Redhawks (8-2) tallied 3 runs in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead, another Lynch triple the big blow in the inning.

Lynch, moved to the leadoff spot for the first time this season, went 3-for-3 with two RBI and scored 2 runs in the second game.

"I was waiting for my pitch, being more patient than I have been," said Lynch, who is 7 for her last 17 at the plate. "I like leading off, the freedom to bunt or hit."

"The two games we've lost this season we got behind and we weren't able to produce offense to come back," Redhawks coach Andy Nussbaum said. "It was nice to get those runs."

Amanda Mener went 2-for-4 in Game 1 and 1-for-3 with a walk and run scored in the second game for Neuqua, which has lost four straight games since a 5-0 start.

"Personally, I think this is the best we've played in the last three days," Schmidt said. "Game 1 we just didn't get a hit when we had runners in scoring position. The bottom line is I think we're both good teams."