January 26, 2025
Sports

Softball: Izzy Fawcett, Wheaton Warrenville South come up aces in regional final

Tigers advance to sectional with first regional title since 2013

Izzy Fawcett knows that a pitcher is only as good as the defense behind her.

Both were aces May 24.

Fawcett, Wheaton Warrenville South’s junior pitcher, located and kept hitters off balance. Her defense, and just enough clutch hitting, did the rest. The sixth-seeded Tigers knocked off third-seeded Downers Grove North 3-0 to win the Class 4A Naperville North Regional.

Fawcett got the upper hand in a pitchers’ duel with Estelle Czech, a Boston College recruit and one of the area’s best.

“The defense is such a huge part of the game, especially on our team,” said Fawcett, who only struck out three and scattered six hits. “It makes me more comfortable as a pitcher that I may not have to strike out 16 or 17. They can make the plays behind me.”

That formula has WW South (23-9) as regional champs for the first time since 2013.

“We’re not going to strike out 12 or 15 batters in a game. We have to play good defense, and we have been,” WW South coach Jeff Pawlak said. “We’ve done it all year long.”

Fawcett didn’t pitch a ton last year, slotted behind then DuPage Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year Kacie Vlach. But she did get experience throwing against good teams such as Plainfield North and Downers North.

She alternated on the mound for WW South’s first 20 games or so this spring, but the Tigers have gone mostly with Fawcett down the stretch. She’s posted a 14-2 record with a 1.9 ERA and 103 strikeouts in 117 innings, and notched impressive wins over Lake Park, Plainfield North and Geneva.

Fawcett, who has worked at the Bulls/Sox Academy since middle school and also trains with pitching coach Jill Waldron, senses an increase in velocity this spring, and improvement spinning her drop and rise.

“She is a kid who works corners, locates and pitches to contact,” Pawlak said. “She’s really kind of come into her own. Her confidence is a neat thing to see.”

Pawlak, with seven or eight returning starters from last year’s DVC champ, was confident this could be a big spring in Wheaton.

Kaitlyn Bresingham, one of those returning starters, is relieved to experience playoff success. The Tigers were upset by Batavia in a regional semifinal last year, and also lost their first playoff game two years ago.

“Especially last year, because we felt that we had a really strong team,” Bresingham said. “We’re just trying to take it one game at a time. Izzy pitched a great game and we were able to do the little things and execute to squeeze out some runs.”

Bresingham, an All-Area pick the past two years, is hitting .372 for the Tigers. Carly Briggs, after a slow start to the season, has picked it up and is batting .390.

Bresingham had a leadoff double in the eighth inning of WW South’s first regional game with Metea Valley that the Tigers eventually won 4-3 on Katie Weisheit’s walk-off hit.

“[Bresingham] has got 10 walks on the season. Teams know about her,” Pawlak said. “Carly has really picked it up. She and Abby [Struebing] have been consistent throughout the year. Abby is our vocal leader.”

Bresingham, who will attend Notre Dame in the fall and plans to study engineering, could play club softball in college. Meanwhile, she’s enjoying her last spring on a school’s competitive team.

WW South is one of four regional champs from the first-year DuKane Conference, along with Lake Park, St. Charles East and Geneva.

“It was definitely really fun in conference; all of our games were close, there weren’t any guaranteed wins,” Bresingham said. “It did a good job of preparing us for the playoffs.”