Naperville Central sticks together for state title

Thirty minutes into a state title celebration, Shane Conlon wondered what happened to his Naperville Central baseball cap.

Make no mistake, he wanted it back.

It's a part of him.

"I don't think I've ever been on a team with such great camaraderie," Conlon said. "It was just so closely knit, and it was all 24 guys. You don't get that a lot on other teams.

"This team is special, and it really paid off in the end," he said.

Capping an emotional, storybook season, Naperville Central and Conlon - the transfer with all the answers - claimed the Class 4A state baseball championship with Saturday's 10-4 victory over St. Rita in front of 2,123 fans at Joliet's Silver Cross Field.

Epitomizing the team mentality enjoyed by the Redhawks (38-4) all season, six different players had hits and five drove in runs as Naperville Central broke a 4-4 tie by scoring 5 runs in the top of the fifth inning. Adding another run in the sixth, the Redhawks set the stage for the inevitable.

Favored all season to match the program's first state title won in 2006, the Redhawks started on top and never wavered.

"For four years I've been talking about this with these guys, and it all came down to today," said senior catcher Ryan Walsh. "Everything boiled down to today, and it's just incredible."

Saturday's final couldn't have had a better storyline. Conlon, the Redhawks' senior ace, was facing the St. Rita (32-10) team he played for his first three years in high school. In fact Conlon, who transferred to Naperville Central in August, pitched the Mustangs into last year's title game with a semifinal win.

Add in the emotion of hall of fame pitching coach Phil Lawler's passing on April 23 following a long bout with cancer, and there was a sense of invulnerability with the ultra-motivated Redhawks.

After the game the team held up the state title trophy with the same pride they held a sign that read "29 Lawler," representing the jersey number worn by their beloved coach, mentor, teacher and friend.

"You know what? He was with us all the way through and he's been with us all the way through this season," said Redhawks coach Bill Seiple, who coached with Lawler for three decades. "You know the sad thing for me is how much fun he would have had with these guys. He would have loved working with Shane Conlon."

Conlon (12-0), who grew up in Naperville before enrolling at St. Rita as a freshman, showed he truly bleeds Naperville Central red by throwing a 5-hitter with 10 strikeouts and 2 walks against his former team. The lone blemish came in a bizarre bottom of the fourth with the Redhawks holding a 4-0 lead.

After allowing a leadoff double Conlon faced Mark Payton. As Conlon began his wind-up one of the field umpires emphatically signaled for a timeout. Conlon delivered the pitch and Payton sent it over left-field wall for a 2-run homer.

As Payton rounded the bases, the field umpire continued to wave off the play because of the timeout. After a discussion with the home umpire, however, they ruled that the home run should count.

"I knew the way Shane works and he's a good pitcher, but timeouts don't stop me," Payton said. "You try calling timeout to the home-plate umpire and he doesn't give it to you, you've got to swing. So maybe if that happens I take the pitch and it's a strike."

A little rattled, Conlon surrendered 4 hits in the inning, including a game-tying 2-run double by Anthony Zawaski.

Naperville Central responded with the 5-run fifth. Marc Mantucca, Bobby Czarnowski, Mason Hallett, Walsh and Matt Soria each drove in a run. Czarnowski added an RBI single in the sixth to extend the lead to 10-4.

Once again, the Redhawks collectively answered the call.

"This is a team as a whole, and we all contributed," Czarnowski said. "That's the way it's been all season and it all came together."

Naperville Central broke out to a 4-0 lead by scoring a pair of unearned runs in the second and fourth innings. Battle-tested to the end, the Redhawks beat a 30-win team for the fourth time in their last five playoff games.

Conlon retired the final five batters he faced, the game ending on a line drive to Matt Cmiel in center field. With that the Redhawks let loose the joy of a mission accomplished.

From the first day of practice, this was the goal.

On the final day of the season, they proved what they knew all along.

The Redhawks are the best team in the state.

"We've been thinking about it, talking about it for four years," Cmiel said. "Now that it's finally here, it doesn't even seem like it's real."