Monday's 3-0 DuPage Valley Conference loss to Naperville North was a microcosm of the struggles West Aurora's softball team have endured in the second half of the season.
Starting pitcher Stephanie Becker allowed only one hit and struck out eight, yet suffered the loss to fall to 14-6 on the season.
Naperville North's runs were all scored in the third inning, without the benefit of a hit. Two Blackhawks errors and a hit-by-pitch, with no ball hit past the pitcher's circle, led to the only offense the Huskies would need.
"I'm not sure I've ever seen that before, three runs and the ball never got past the pitcher's mound," West coach Dave Zine said.
The inning started when Becker hit Diana Rechenmacher with a pitch. She was sacrificed twice to get to third, but two errors and two fielder's choices on bunts wound up pushing across three runs for the aggressive Huskies (14-12 overall, 4-9 DVC).
West (17-11, 5-8) managed to out-hit the Huskies 4-1, but could not string much together against Naperville North starter Layne Engel (8-5). The only minor threat the Blackhawks managed were back-to-back one-out singles in the fifth from Brooke Gossett and Carrie Mendoza. But Engel got out of the jam and cruised to the win.
"That's just how things are going to be sometimes," Becker said. "We had some good hits, but we just couldn't string them together to score some runs. That will happen from time to time."
Softball: Naperville North 3, West Aurora 0
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