Through almost five innings on Tuesday, Naperville North was priming for an upset of Downers Grove North.
“We were doing well,” Huskies senior pitcher Dani Biesiada said. “They weren’t hitting me hard until the end and my team was doing a good job backing me up. We did well defensively until the fifth inning.”
A tied game turned on a few Huskies errors in the fifth, when Downers Grove North put up three runs en route to a 6-1 win in the Class 4A Geneva Regional semifinals.
“We battled and Dani pitched well,” Huskies coach Jerry Kedziora said. “It’s tough because once they saw her a third time through the lineup, they’re such a good hitting team. And we made a few errors that cost us.”
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Naperville North (13-17), the 13th seed, took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single by senior catcher Morgan Johannes. Fourth-seeded Downers Grove answered with a run in the bottom of the first and the game remained 1-1 until the fifth.
“It was kind of unexpected considering our seeding,” Johannes said. “But once we scored in the first inning, we realized we could be in this game. Anything can happen in tournament play and it was neck-and-neck. We played hard and not too many of their runs were earned.”
Naperville North had eight hits and loaded the bases in the second inning, but Downers Grove pitcher Savannah Rodriguez got a groundout to end the threat.
The Huskies came a long way in 2016. They started the season with a 1-7 record but went 12-10 the rest of the way as a young team learned how to play varsity softball.
A speech from their coach also helped turn things around.
“(Kedziora) pulled us together and talked to us about what it means to play Huskie softball, and playing for your school, for the name on the front of the jersey, and then we started winning games,” Johannes said.
With seniors Johannes, Biesiada, Alex Hanselman, Kelsey Warren, Kira Couch and Taylor Honaker graduating, Kedziora hopes next year’s veterans, including Maddie Vassar, Sammy Watt, Maya Tucker, Janelle Honaker and Callie Ladone, will lead the way in 2017.
“They learned about teamwork this year and how to work with and trust one another,” Kedziora said. “And they learned that you have to battle the whole time. They learned how to be good teammates.”
Warren finished her career with a pair of singles Tuesday, Couch did yeoman’s work at third base, and Hanselman has been a varsity mainstay for three seasons.
This year’s battery of Biesiada and Johannes will be particularly hard to replace.
“They’re the reason why we’re here,” Kedziora said. “They’ve been our three and four hitters all year and Dani stepped up. She was able to hold teams to one or two runs, and she lost a 10- and a 13-inning game. And Morgan did a great job. She came up with plenty of big hits for us this year.”
Gary Larsen is a freelance writer for the Naperville Sun.