With the season on the line in the NCAA Division III regionals at Lake Forest, North Central College’s softball team sat through a weather delay Friday.
As a result, the Cardinals had to pick the game back up in the seventh inning Saturday with a runner on first and one out, down 2-1. When Kristen Tinkoff singled to put two on with one out, they were feeling good about their chances.
The Cardinals, however, were unable to capitalize and the season ended with the 2-1 loss.
“It gave us a chance to regroup,” NCC coach Jim Kulawiak said of the delay. “I thought we were fresher when we got on the field. It was a good situation for us when Tinkoff got on.
“It’s a tough way to go out. The last two years we were real close (to advancing to super regionals). We thought we could get over the hump this year.”
The Cardinals (32-9) suffered an offensive outage near the end of the season. They lost five of their last six games, including the regular-season finale against Aurora and both games in the CCIW tournament. Three of the losses came by one run.
“They did a lot of great things this year,” Kulawiak said. “The last couple of weeks we lost some close games. Unfortunately we started to struggle a little bit at the plate.”
Junior Andrea Starr was named the CCIW pitcher of the year. Starr, who recovered from a torn ACL suffered during her freshman season, went 20-7 with a 1.83 ERA and six saves.
Starr was one of five all-conference selections. Tinkoff also was named to the first team. Corinne Rowe, Carly Trenhaile and Amanda Walker made the second team. Starr and Tinkoff were named to the NFCA All-Great Lakes Region first team, Trenhaile to the second team and Walker to the third team.
Baseball wraps
After winning the CCIW regular-season title by two games, NCC hosted the CCIW tournament last weekend but saw its regional hopes dashed.
The Cardinals (26-16) lost to Carthage and Illinois Wesleyan. They won the 11th regular-season conference title in program history in coach Ed Mathey’s return to the dugout after 12 years at Northern Illinois.
“You always hope for a better result, you want to keep playing,” Mathey said. “We played well. Game 1 against Carthage we had some great opportunities to put it away, and we couldn’t. I don’t think it diminishes what we accomplished this season. We won plenty. I was handed the keys to a car and we didn’t drive it into a ditch. I told them for NCC baseball, it was a historic season.”
The CCIW took notice, putting eight Cardinals on the all-conference team, including CCIW pitcher of the year Bryan Polowy. Polowy went 8-1 with a 1.09 ERA, allowing only 48 hits in 74 1/3 innings.
“It’s a well-earned honor for him,” Mathey said. “It’s not a secret the way he went out and pitched all year long. All the other conference coaches noticed it. The debates for first team all-conference pitcher were for spots 2-4. There was no debate on No. 1.”
Polowy was joined on the first team by infielders Vito DeRango, Sam Klein and Jake Rone and outfielders Joe Paparone and Bobby Smith, the CCIW newcomer of the year. Designated hitter Chris Hill and pitcher Ben Krusen were named to the second team.
On the run
David Thompson, a 1999 NCC graduate, was tabbed to take over for the retiring cross country and track and field coach Fred Whiteside at CCIW rival Augustana.
Thompson, an 11-time All-American and three-time national champion for North Central, will be the head men’s cross country and track and field coach starting next year. A former assistant at Augustana, he has head coaching experience at Ashford, Dubuque, SUNY Oswego and, most recently, Williams.
Thompson still holds the NCC records in the 100 meters (10.72) and 200 (21.25).
Johnson is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
