Naperville Central junior pitcher Natalie Wunderlich made an interesting comment following Saturday's 3-0 regional title victory over Downers Grove North. When asked what she thought about facing top-seeded Plainfield Central in the Bolingbrook Sectional semifinals, Wunderlich said her team is smarter than the one that fell to the Wildcats 1-0 on April 29. And you know what? I think she's on to something.
"I'm thinking it'll be a tough game," she said. "But I think we're smarter now. We know who can beat us on their team. (Stephanie) Kirkpatrick is a really good hitter. They have a lot of girls on the Bandits, this traveling team that's really good."
Smarts in athletics usually means knowing your competition, being confident in your team and playing like nothing surprises you. During the month of May, Central grew their team IQ by a few points in all of those categories.
In the first battle against Plainfield Central, the Redhawks got just one hit from Megan Silke. That's unlikely to happen this time around. The team has been getting timely production from the entire lineup, especially senior shortstop Lizzy Ploen and No. 2 hitter Katie Bradley. Central's lineup went through a period of shuffle for a little while, but things are settled and each player knows what they bring to the order. And more importantly, the Redhawks approach the plate with the expectation that they should get a hit.
On the mound, Wunderlich gave up five hits against the Wildcats. It's likely that University of Michigan-bound shortstop Kirkpatrick will get a few hits again, as will some of the other power bats in the lineup. But it's unlikely it will phase Wunderlich.
The junior pitcher gave up a home run against Plainfield North in the regional semifinal, but she kept her head and struck the same batter out to end the game with a 4-3 win. On Saturday, Wunderlich threw only one strikeout, but her ninth shutout this season was arguably one of her finest performances as a pitcher. She gave up only three hits and the majority of batters were left to contend with ground outs or fly outs to the usual places. Perhaps more important than anything else, was that Wunderlich didn't get rattled by the lack of strikeouts. Nussbaum admitted that getting the K meant more to his young pitcher last season. Since then, Wunderlich has matured a lot and realizes that the entire team carries the load, not just the ace on the mound. These are valuable lessons to learn and Central is hoping their new education will prevent them from being schooled again by the Wildcats.
Nussbaum is happy with his team. He thinks everything is moving forward in the right direction. Central's learned all the right lessons and done their homework in preparation for Wednesday's game, which should be one of the best of the year.
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