Latest news with #Waldusky
Chicago Tribune
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Superstitious Ava Drehs can amaze with K's for Neuqua Valley. Her new feat: All 18 outs by strikeout.
Neuqua Valley ace Ava Drehs claims there is superstition behind her superpower. The Creighton-bound senior has a list of pregame routines she must follow. One of them involves catcher Krista Waldusky. 'Me and Krista split a piece of gum and share it for the first inning until we're on the same page,' Drehs said. It doesn't take long for Waldusky, a senior leader for the Wildcats, to figure out she and Drehs are good to go. 'I can honestly tell in warmups,' Waldusky said. 'Like, as soon as she throws the first pitch, you can either know, like, 'Oh, we're on the same page,' or, 'Oh, we need a little bit more connection there.'' If it's the latter? 'We need a new piece of gum,' Waldusky said. 'There's been multiple times where we have spit out the first piece. 'We're a little bit superstitious, to say the least.' Indeed, the chewing gum isn't the only piece of Drehs' schtick. 'We also have another tradition with the game ball,' Neuqua Valley coach Danielle Asquini said. 'Whenever she's starting, I have to open it for her and give her the wrapper, and she puts it in her back pocket. 'Interesting superstitions around here. There's always something that keeps us locked in, that keeps us ready to go.' Drehs actually didn't feel ready to go before facing Metea Valley in a DuPage Valley Conference game in Naperville on Wednesday. 'When we warmed up, I was talking to Krista,' she said. 'I was like, 'I actually don't feel good today.' 'We were both like, 'Oh, it's hot, and we're tired from a long day and stuff. But then, I don't know, we just got out there and…' Dominated. In the final home game of her career, Drehs threw a three-hit shutout and recorded all 18 outs by strikeout in the Wildcats' 10-0 win in six innings. Waldusky and freshman Savannah Charlton had two hits and two RBIs apiece to back Drehs, whose strikeout feat was a first for her. 'I have not done that before,' Drehs said. 'It's exciting. My teammates are excited for me, too, and everyone's happy.' It was quickly apparent that Drehs and Waldusky wouldn't require a second stick of gum. Drehs knew after the first pitch of the game to Metea Valley's leadoff hitter, senior Grace Feeley. 'The first batter swung and missed the first pitch, and I was like, 'OK, wait, I think we'll be OK,'' Drehs said. 'Because she's pretty good. She's awesome.' Drehs was awesome throughout. Senior Sydney Eakin and freshman Maielle Ernser were the only batters to get hits for the Mustangs, who had only one runner reach third base. 'In warmups, she was throwing pretty hard today, and she was hitting her spots, spinning the ball,' Waldusky said. 'When she does, when she puts it all together, she's a pretty hard pitcher to hit.' The Wildcats (13-14, 9-3) had no such problems and the Mustangs (6-18, 3-9). They led 5-0 after five innings before scoring five runs in the sixth, with junior Hannah Toomey clinching the game with a bases-loaded walk. The ending was a bit anticlimactic because it prevented Drehs, who holds Neuqua Valley's single-season and career strikeout records, from going for 21 strikeouts. Her career high is 19, but that was in a seven-inning game. She has 610 career strikeouts 'I was hoping we'd have another inning,' she said. 'But it's all right.' For those wondering what type of gum Drehs chews, it's a minty concoction called Extra Polar Ice. She's stocked up and is hoping more wins are in store for the Wildcats, who are tied for the DVC lead with Naperville Central (17-12, 9-3) with three games remaining. 'We set a goal to win the conference, and we have to win all of our upcoming games in order to tie with Central,' Drehs said. 'So I think having this game, like, in the books and it being a well-played, well-pitched game puts us in a better note for the rest of the week and next week.'
Chicago Tribune
11-04-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Neuqua Valley's Krista Waldusky ‘isn't the quietest one out of the bunch.' They wouldn't have it any other way.
Krista Waldusky learned years ago that she wasn't born to pitch. But the Neuqua Valley senior can look back at that discovery and smile. 'I started off, and I just wasn't that good at pitching,' Waldusky said. 'I walked three girls, and I was like, 'Oh god, I cannot do this. I'm done. I quit.' I just didn't have the mentality for it.' For Waldusky, catching is a much different story. She said she moved behind the plate as an 8-year-old, and she enrolled in catching lessons a year later. 'My dad had played baseball, and he was a catcher,' Waldusky said. 'He was like, 'I know it seems boring, but trust me, you're gonna love it,' and then it just kind of took off from there. 'It's not like the most flashy position, but you're involved in every play. You're the captain of the field. You have a different viewpoint that nobody else has, and I think that's something that's really valuable.' Waldusky has proved to be invaluable for Neuqua Valley (3-5, 1-0), which won its DuPage Valley Conference opener against Naperville Central on Thursday. Offensively, she was hitting .391 with seven RBIs through eight games after batting .308 with 23 RBIs last season. But she showed signs of being a leader early in her three-year varsity career. 'We all knew right away,' Neuqua Valley coach Danielle Asquini said. 'Krista isn't the quietest one out of the bunch. She's very enthusiastic and energetic. 'The position that she plays requires her to be vocal and, for lack of a better word, bossing around her defense. But she does that with such ease. No one feels it as an order. It's more of a helpful and supportive way for her to lead our team.' Waldusky will use a soft touch if that's needed. 'She's been my rock through it all,' Neuqua Valley senior pitcher Ava Drehs said. 'If I pitch a mispitch, she'll be like, 'Hey, it's OK, you got it.' And if I pitch a great pitch, she'll be like, 'Great pitch, Ava.' 'She's very vocal and reassuring, which is helpful to know someone is going through it with me.' Outside the chalk, Waldusky can walk the tightrope too. She's a standout student, and her playful side shines through at events like the team's Meet the Wildcats night, when Waldusky commanded the spotlight by doing the worm — executed beautifully, according to her. Waldusky, the youngest of four children, comes from an athletic family and said she has received unending support from her parents, Tim and Michelle. Her older sister is a former cheerleader, and her two older brothers swam and played ice hockey, respectively, at Neuqua Valley and in college. Their success actually steered Waldusky away from those sports. 'I played every sport imaginable,' she said. 'I tried swimming, dance, hockey, volleyball, soccer, everything. But I wanted something that was different from my siblings. So I didn't want to swim, I didn't want to play hockey and I didn't want to be a cheerleader. Those were the three things off my list immediately.' Waldusky did learn some things from her brothers, though. 'Watching both of my brothers sacrifice so much to achieve their dreams put in that expectation for me,' she said. 'If I wanted to play college softball, then I had to sacrifice a lot. They were skipping out on parties, football games and stuff like that. But it all wound up working out. 'So I know that when I'm sacrificing those things, it will eventually pay off.' Playing in college will fulfill a longtime dream for Waldusky. 'I knew I wanted to play softball and take it very seriously,' she said. 'For the past four years, it's been that constant grind of wake up, go to school, go to practice, come home, work out, sleep. All of that is paying off.'
