Latest / Kendall County News - Shaw Local / Nathan Napolitano wins third straight start of spring, pitches Waubonsie Valley past Oswego
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- 0:05Speaker 1: Nathan Napolitano wins third straight started spring pitches Wabonzie Valley
- 0:09Speaker 1: passed Oswego Written by Joshua Weld. This article is being
- 0:14Speaker 1: read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
- 0:18Speaker 1: Wabanzi Valley brought back very little pitching from last year's
- 0:21Speaker 1: Sectional champion, creating opportunities for guys like Nathan Napolitano. Safe
- 0:25Speaker 1: to say he's run with it. The senior right hander
- 0:28Speaker 1: on Saturday won his third straight start this spring. Napolitano
- 0:31Speaker 1: pitched six strong innings and the Warriors capitalized on the
- 0:34Speaker 1: few scoring chances I had to beat visiting us Weigo
- 0:37Speaker 1: six minus one inch Aurora. I had some pretty high
- 0:41Speaker 1: expectations for myself coming into this spring, Napolitano said, I
- 0:44Speaker 1: felt pretty good today. I felt like I had all
- 0:46Speaker 1: my pitches fastball, curveball, and threw them for strikes. End quote.
- 0:50Speaker 1: Napolitano three zero, allowed just three hits, a walk and
- 0:54Speaker 1: a hit batter, striking out five. As much as anything,
- 0:57Speaker 1: Napolitano pounded the strike zone. He needed just sixty eight pitches,
- 1:01Speaker 1: forty nine of them strikes. It's what While Bonzie Valley
- 1:04Speaker 1: coach Brian Oscevedo has seen all spring from Napolitano, who
- 1:07Speaker 1: is pitched to a one point four ERA over fifteen innings.
- 1:11Speaker 1: He throws strikes. He just fills it up in the
- 1:13Speaker 1: zone and the ball dances. Acevedo said, he's not going
- 1:16Speaker 1: to overpower you, but he throws all of his pitches
- 1:18Speaker 1: for strikes, and the ball moves. It's hard to square up.
- 1:21Speaker 1: Neapolitano pitched junior varsity last spring, while while Bonzie Valley
- 1:25Speaker 1: five MINU seven was making its run to the program's
- 1:27Speaker 1: first sectional title since two thousand and five with just
- 1:30Speaker 1: two pitchers back who threw little. Last year, Acevedo tabbed
- 1:34Speaker 1: Napolitano to pitch his team's season opener. He beat Saint
- 1:37Speaker 1: Charles East six minus two inches that game and hasn't
- 1:39Speaker 1: looked back. We thought he would throw a little for
- 1:42Speaker 1: us with what he has done at the lower levels,
- 1:44Speaker 1: but it wasn't until we got to see at firsthand
- 1:46Speaker 1: that we knew that we had someone that could throw
- 1:48Speaker 1: for us. Asceavedo said, he's done a great job stepping
- 1:51Speaker 1: up as someone we can count on. A Sevedo doesn't
- 1:54Speaker 1: underestimate the importance of just throwing strikes. Half the battle
- 1:57Speaker 1: for high school pitchers. That's been a battle for the team,
- 2:01Speaker 1: it really is. That's been our struggle. We have lost
- 2:03Speaker 1: a lot of games that we walked a bunch of guys,
- 2:05Speaker 1: wild pitches, strikes, win and quote. Acevedo said, we have
- 2:09Speaker 1: learned that over the last couple of years in our
- 2:11Speaker 1: playoff runs. Nathan factors right into that. Napolitano navigated through
- 2:15Speaker 1: a scoreless first inning Saturday, after hitting the first batter
- 2:18Speaker 1: and allowing a single to Oswego's Drew Klein Hands. He
- 2:22Speaker 1: ran into trouble in the fourth when Hunter Emilio and
- 2:24Speaker 1: Dylan Duke's hit well placed doubles down the lines to
- 2:27Speaker 1: cut while Bondzi valleys lead to tuominus one. But Napolitano
- 2:31Speaker 1: bore down to retire the next three batters that inning
- 2:34Speaker 1: and six more to end his start. That was huge,
- 2:37Speaker 1: big for us, Acevedo said, the ball kind of drops
- 2:40Speaker 1: in right and he shuts it down from there. That
- 2:42Speaker 1: was a big turning point. He just kind of does
- 2:44Speaker 1: this thing. Nothing bothers him. The defense was good that inning,
- 2:47Speaker 1: Napolitano said, they helped pick me up. Oswego's quiet day
- 2:51Speaker 1: offensively reflected an early trend this season. The Panthers seven
- 2:56Speaker 1: minus six have scored a total of five runs and
- 2:58Speaker 1: five of their six losses, but I have averaged nearly
- 3:00Speaker 1: ten runs per game in their seven wins. It's kind
- 3:04Speaker 1: of a microcosm of our season. The ebbs and flows.
- 3:07Speaker 1: Oswego coach Joe Girante said, we've shown flashes where we
- 3:10Speaker 1: can do things right now. I feel like we can
- 3:12Speaker 1: beat any team and we can lose to any team.
- 3:14Speaker 1: That's the reality of where we are at. But we're
- 3:16Speaker 1: seeing signs of things turning and quote. Oswego pitchers aj Nissner,
- 3:21Speaker 1: Nolan Hutchings and Jackson Deets allowed just five hits, but
- 3:25Speaker 1: walked six and hit two more. Five of those eight
- 3:27Speaker 1: free passes came around to score. They took advantage of
- 3:30Speaker 1: some opportunities when we gave them some free base runners.
- 3:32Speaker 1: Girante said, we're a young team. We're gonna have these losses.
- 3:36Speaker 1: We just have to clean things up on the mound
- 3:38Speaker 1: with the freebies and find some timely hitting. After Oswego
- 3:41Speaker 1: elected to intentionally walk Warriors catcher and Oakland University commit
- 3:45Speaker 1: Shane Torres with two out and a runner on third
- 3:47Speaker 1: and the third Nate Serilli and Jack Roberts came through
- 3:50Speaker 1: with RBI singles for a two to zero lead. In
- 3:53Speaker 1: the fifth, Jake Quinn delivered a two out, two runs
- 3:56Speaker 1: single to make it four minus one. Soreally tacked on
- 3:59Speaker 1: another two out RBA single in the sixth. Nate really
- 4:02Speaker 1: picked us up with that first two out, two strike hit.
- 4:05Speaker 1: Acevedo said he had a nice game that got us going.