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Softball: Downers Grove North trips up Neuqua Valley

The outcome wasn't what she had hoped for, and the weather was a little warm with all the gear on, but Neuqua Valley catcher Danielle Olson managed to crack a smile or two while looking back on her four years behind the plate for the Wildcats.

Neuqua Valley dropped a tough 5-2 battle with third-seeded Downers Grove North in the championship game of the Class 4A East Aurora regional Saturday in Aurora. The tough, season-ending loss came down to a 4-run Trojans fifth inning. It erased a 2-1 lead that the DuPage Valley Conference co-champions had taken following Paige Price's home run over the fence in center field in the top of the fourth.

"We played them earlier this season and knew they would be really good, so we knew they would come out strong and they did," said Olson, who will continue sporting the catcher's gear next year at Western Illinois. "But we came out strong today. I think today was one of our better games; we just came up a little short."

The Wildcats (21-10) got off to a quick start, loading the bases with none out in the first. They eventually took a quick 1-0 lead when Mikaela Domico scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Abby Meeks. Domico opened the game by coaxing a walk out of Downers Grove North junior Audrey Gusel. An error and a single by Olson followed to load the bases.

But Gusel limited the damage to a single run and aside from Price's blast in the fourth, pitched well enough to earn her team a third straight regional crown. Gusel finished with five strikeouts, allowed six hits and picked up the win after a pair of errors helped the Trojans score four runs in the decisive fifth off Zoe Herdman, who pitched five strong innings in her final prep contest.

"Zoe did amazing today. She was hitting her spots and she threw exactly what we needed," Olson said. "They just happened to get ahold of a couple of them and they had a couple duck snorts, so that's a bummer."

The big inning started when leadoff hitter Kelsey Bernhard drew a walk and it was aided by two errors and a perfect sacrifice bunt. But the outburst also included an RBI double by Estelle Czech, who went 4-for-4.

"It came down to errors in the fifth, and against a team like this we can't afford those errors," Wildcats coach Christina Chrencik said. "It also came down to communication in the outfield, plays that should have been made that weren't, so it's frustrating.

"But I'm very proud of this team and what we've accomplished as a program and as a team. That's what I told them at the end, to pick themselves up and keep their heads high and that these guys accomplished a lot."

Herdman, who plans to play the infield next year at Butler, will not soon forget the season that included the program's first conference title in 15 years.

"I'm proud of my team today," said Herdman, who was hitless Saturday but did just miss a long ball on a deep flyout in the third. "I felt it today, but they're fast (and good bunters). They're a great team. It was good to compete with them.

"Our goal was to win conference and we got that. This has been a great team for me to end my senior year on … we had a lot of good games this year and even this one was good even though we didn't get the W."

Downers Grove North, which has won four regionals in five seasons with Eric Landschoot as the coach, will play in the Oswego sectional against Oswego East. Oswego East is the second seed in the sectional where top-seeded Plainfield North advanced with a 2-0 win over Naperville Central on Saturday

"Audrey threw a great game, but offensively we struggled," Landschoot said. "Hats off to their pitcher. She kept us off balance, she was hitting the corners. She was able to make good hitters look completely mediocre, so hats off to them and hats off to her as well."

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