Softball: Naperville Central sweeps Willowbrook
Friday may not have been great for the Naperville Central softball team, but the Redhawks wasted little time putting that effort behind them.
Playing at Willowbrook on Saturday morning, Naperville Central struck for 4 runs in each of the first two innings and kept on rounding the bases in a 17-0, five-inning defeat of the Warriors in the first game of a nonconference doubleheader. Thirteen more hits came in the nightcap, a 14-1 win that completed the sweep and saw Olivia Balaun (1-0) pick up her first varsity win.
"The way we attacked the game mentally yesterday was not good. The way we attacked the game mentally today was good," said Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum, whose team lost a one-sided home game to Downers Grove South on Friday. "We played really well, really well today."
Annie Tassi, Claire Busch and Stacy Stark each had RBI hits in the first inning of the opener and then the Redhawks pounded out 6 hits in the second inning while taking an 8-0 lead. That was plenty of support for Stark, who allowed just three hits while picking up her first shutout of the spring.
"When the offense is working so hard it just gives me the backbone to do my thing on the mound," said Stark, who had a pair of hits in the opener and three more in Game 2. "We came ready to play and we came through consistently all the way through the end. We're finally meshing as a team, coming together and getting the job done."
Leadoff hitter Abby Place had two doubles and scored twice in the first game, then tallied three more runs as Naperville Central improved to 7-11 on the year after completing the sweep. But the hitting stars were scattered throughout the Redhawks order. Savanna Schmitz and Rachel Vrlenich each hit homers in the 17-0 win, while Stark added a long ball in the second game.
"I like how our entire team had hits. We kept feeding off each other," said Schmitz, a senior who had 3 extra-base hits and 3 runs scored in the first contest. "This is definitely a confidence boost. Yesterday was a little bit rough, but we didn't let yesterday get to us today."
For Willowbrook (4-9), Saturday proved to be a step back after the team had played a pair of solid conference games this week - beating Glenbard West and dropping a well-played extra-inning affair with Hinsdale South.
"They hit us and then we gave them extra bases the whole game," Warriors coach Rachel Karos said. "My frustration isn't the (amount of) winning. It's just the lack of intensity."
Karos credited the hot Redhawks' bats but felt her team could have limited some of the big innings by making a couple more plays in the field and maybe a few big pitches.
"In years past you've got to find a way to get an out and you've got to limit their bases. Where we're disappointed today are probably mental errors. I can handle them getting hits, but everybody just has to be mentally tougher," Karos said.