After a rainy morning, the skies clear just in time for some softball action as the Waubonsie Valley Warriors host the Naperville Central Redhawks. Central enters off a dominant 14-3 win over Metea Valley, while the Warriors look to snap a losing streak after falling to Naperville North. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
Waubonsie Valley and Naperville Central softball show off the gloves on defense in the first inning
Waubonsie’s Samantha Wiertelak is in the circle to start, and she opens strong in the top of the first. With two strikes on Shea Meech, Wiertelak gets her swinging for the strikeout.
Later in the inning with two outs, Natalie Lau sends a grounder to short, where Aislee Morgan fields it and throws to Lily Elsea at first for the out. A quick first inning defensively for the Warriors.
Shea Meech gets the start for the Redhawks and answers with a strong bottom of the first. With one down, she gets Grace Riggs swinging for strike three.
Up next is Aislee Morgan, who grounds one to shortstop, leading to the final out of the inning at first. We’re scoreless after one.
Riley Silvers goes 4/4 at the plate for Naperville Central
Top of the second now, and Avery Hayward sends a liner to center, but Waubonsie’s Dezirae Kelly makes the grab and celebrates with a little jump of excitement.
More clean defense follows, as Lacey Williams pops one to right field and Addison Powell hauls it in to end the top half.
In the third, Riley Silvers smacks a fly ball to right for a double, moving Meredith Cann up to third.
Next up, Jamie Saran drives one to left where Alyssa Tukker makes the catch and fires it to third for the double play on Silvers. However, Cann scores on the sac fly to give the Redhawks a 1-0 lead.
To the fifth inning, Silvers is back at the plate and ropes another double to center. Meredith Cann crosses the plate again to extend Central’s lead to 2-0.
Saran keeps the momentum going, grounding one to center to drive in Silvers. Redhawks now lead 3-0.
In the sixth, Lacey Williams skies one to deep center… Kelly gives chase and fires it in, catching Williams trying to stretch it to third for the out.
Later in the frame, Cali Lenz steps up and launches a deep shot over the right field fence for a solo home run. That makes it 4-0 Naperville Central.
Meredith Cann continues her great performance from the dish
Meredith Cann stays hot at the plate, blooping a single to center to go 3-for-3 on the day.
Riley Silvers continues her big afternoon with another hard-hit double to left, bringing Cann home again. Silvers is now 4-for-4, and it’s a 5-0 Redhawks lead.
The scoring keeps coming — Saran smacks a line drive to left, and Silvers crosses the plate once more. 6-0 Redhawks heading into the bottom of the sixth.
Waubonsie gets on the board late and tries to rally against Naperville Central
Waubonsie finally breaks through as Aislee Morgan lines a single to right, and Dezirae Kelly scores to get the Warriors on the board.
The rally continues in the bottom of the seventh. Addison Powell sends a liner to center and takes second base, while Alyssa Tukker comes home to cut the lead to 6-2.
Grace Riggs adds another run with a sac fly to Lacey Williams in right, allowing Lyric Taylor to tag up and score. The Warriors are within two, now 6-4.
But with two outs, Shea Meech slams the door shut, striking out Aislee Morgan to end the game. Naperville Central holds off the late comeback and improves to 9-8 on the season with a 6-4 win over Waubonsie Valley.
For more prep sports highlights, visit the Naperville Sports Weekly page.
