It’s fair to say now the secret’s out for Neuqua Valley.
Handing the ball Saturday to a sophomore for a second straight postseason game, Robin Renner had all the confidence in the world Ricky Castro would follow James Kulak’s lead.
While showing a sense of maturity beyond his years, Castro limited third-seeded Naperville Central to two runs in five innings.
Castro’s effort and a two-run fifth – highlighted with a safety squeeze from Tyler Cristofaro – propelled sixth-seeded Neuqua Valley to a 4-3 victory, capturing the Class 4A Bolingbrook Regional.
In picking up his fifth victory of the season, Castro fanned six while scattering four hits in joining fellow sophomore Kulak with a postseason victory under his belt.
“At first, I couldn’t get a feel for it,” Castro said of his curveball. “But then – all the runs we were scoring, all this momentum – it kind of got my head back into it and I just kept throwing it.
“It’s so much fun because (Kulak and I) are really good friends. Just going through this together, it’s so much fun.”
A 10th regional title now in tow, Neuqua Valley (23-13) advances to a Class 4A Oswego Sectional Semifinal date with 10th-seeded Plainfield East on Wednesday.
“I didn’t even know what the number was, but it’s always good to get a regional,” Renner said. “ It’s hard. It’s much harder than people think to do that. Look at Waubonsie now. Look at Naperville Central now. Look at Hinsdale South now. As good as those teams are, it just didn’t work out.
“There’s so much luck involved. So much luck involved. I’ve always I said, ‘I’d rather be lucky than good’ and we were both.”
Thanks to the job Mason LeBreck did in the last two innings and a nice play from third baseman Max Vercautren with the Redhawks threatening in the seventh, the Wildcats’ run continues.
Three straight one-out singles from Connor Gurnik, Beau Buchanan and Conor Joyce had Naperville Central (24-11) looking primed for a walk-off opportunity as it had its deficit to 4-3.
But Vercautren’s quick thinking on a ball hit right at him to cut down Buchanan at the plate as the potential tying run and LeBreck’s strikeout of Jack Hughes ended matters.
“They make a great play at third base to stop us from tying the game and then full count, their kid has to throw a 3-2 curveball to get our five hitter,” Naperville Central coach Mike Stock said. “We made them make every play. And you know what, give them credit. They made big plays.”
Cristofaro’s fifth-inning bunt – coming on a full count while facing Redhawks’ reliever Charlie Walzer with the bases loaded – helped momentum in the Wildcats’ direction.
“I was nervous at first because I didn’t know … I thought I would’ve been able to swing, but I just kind of knew that they weren’t really expecting it,” Cristofaro said. “So I thought if I got it right down the first-base line, I was hoping that the first baseman would charge enough to come and get it and no one would be there. And no one was there.”
The two teams exchanged runs in both the second and fourth innings as Wildcats’ sophomore catcher Jake Wenz and Redhawks’ junior Gabe Soria had two RBI apiece.
But for the Redhawks, what transpired in the bottom of the second left them shaking their collective heads.
A pair of walks following a Soria sacrifice fly loaded the bases for the Redhawks as they were looking to break a 1-1 tie with two outs.
Castro hit Buchanan to apparently give the Redhawks a 2-1 lead, but the umpire called him back for purposely leaning into the pitch.
Moments after that questionable call didn’t go the Redhawks’ way, Castro fanned Buchanan to end that uprising.
“I’m not behind the plate,” Stock said. “You guys might be sitting back there, maybe you can tell what when on. (The umpire) said he ‘chicken-winged’ it. There’s not much I can say.”
After stranding the bases loaded and allowing just the one run there in the second, Castro allowed just one hit in his last three innings.
“Yeah, that was big,” he said. “I was just thinking to myself ‘this one pitch could affect the end of the game.’ So I was just so focused right there.”
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