IHSA Class 3A Baseball State Finals: Crystal Lake Central’s stinginess has been vital to postseason run

Even with a 9-14 record in early May, Crystal Lake Central’s players never lost faith.

The Tigers still felt they could do something special this baseball season.

“As a senior group, and with coach (Cal) Aldridge, we said [before the season] we were going to make a run this year,” senior shortstop Jaden Obaldo said. “We had a rough middle of the season, but we haven’t gotten away from that mindset.”

Central (20-14) beat DePaul Prep 5-1 at the Class 3A Schaumburg Supersectional on Monday and will meet Morris (29-3) at 10 a.m. Friday in a Class 3A State Tournament semifinal at Joliet’s Duly Health and Care Field.

The Tigers seemed an unlikely Final Four candidate after a 9-5 loss to Sycamore on May 4, but they walked off a 3-2 win over Prairie Ridge two days later and have not lost since.

Pitching and defense have been crucial in the 11-game winning streak. Central allowed 6.5 runs per game before May 4 and is allowing 1.6 runs per game since then. The Tigers have given up only 18 runs over the past 11 games and only twice has an opponent scored more than two runs during that time.

“Everything finally started to click for us at the right time,” said catcher Sean Kempf, who had the winning RBI against Prairie Ridge to start the streak. “Our pitching staff has been trying to dominate as much as they can. Our defense has made a lot of plays, everyone’s playing defense really well right now to back up the pitchers. Our pitchers seem to get at least five strikeouts a game, so they’re doing their part, too.”

Aldridge, a first-year coach, said a situation in Monday’s win exemplified what the Tigers want.

“John Gariepy had bases loaded and nobody out and he gave up one run,” Aldridge said. “That’s pretty impressive, that’s special. Our pitching coach (Austin) Padjen is constantly preaching for our pitchers to be stubborn on the mound. That’s what our guys have done, they’ve been tough. They’ve worked hard out of jams.

“We’ve been pretty good defensively, too. If they put the ball in play, more than likely we’re going to make the play behind them. They have to trust the guys behind them when they’re on the mound, and things have been working out for us.”

Junior Rhett Ozment (4-0, 1.84 ERA) has been tough in the postseason and will get the ball against Morris in the semifinal.

Morris has won 19 consecutive games since a 7-2 loss to Ottawa on April 11.

“My whole job is to keep them calm and focused on that they don’t need to be perfect to get outs,” Kempf said. “To start off the year, everyone was scared and trying to get perfect spots, perfect location. They’re trusting their defense a lot more and they’re filling it up and getting strikes.

“Rhett has been dealing lately, he’s been one of the better postseason pitchers for us. Every game he’s competing the best that he can.”

Kempf is hitting .333 with a team-best 28 RBIs. Obaldo (.373, 22 RBIs) and James Dreher (.363, 20 RBIs) are two of the other top hitters. Connor Gibour (3-0, 0.70) has taken over as Central’s pitcher to close out games.

The Tigers tied for fifth in the Fox Valley Conference with Cary-Grove and Jacobs, but the conference has become known for having one of its teams not at the top of the standings make a run to state.

This is Central’s third trip to the state tournament. Jeff Aldridge, Cal’s father, took the Tigers to the 2003 Class AA State Tournament and to the 2008 Class 3A State Tournament, where they finished fourth.

Cal Aldridge watched his dad’s teams from the stands that year, played on Prairie Ridge’s 2014 team that took fourth in Class 4A, then was in dugout as an assistant coach with Crystal Lake South when it finished fourth in the Class 3A State Tournament two years ago.

Center fielder Drew Welder also has heard state tournament stories from his father Bryan, who played second base on Crystal Lake South’s 1993 team that took fourth place.

“He’s been describing what he felt and I’ve been feeling similar things, and it’s so cool to be able to do it as well,” Welder said. “We always had that feeling [we could do this], even when we were in that lull in the middle of the season, we knew we had the guys.

“It’s been amazing, surreal, for sure. However much we expected to get here, it still feels great. It’s definitely a dream to be here.”

Obaldo feels like the Tigers’ best offensive game is yet to come.

“We figured out our game toward the end of conference play,” he said. “It started with that walk-off against PR. Our defense and pitching were phenomenal in that game.

“Our defense trusts our pitchers, and our pitchers trust our defense more and realized we’re going to make the plays behind them as long as they do their job, throw strikes and fill up the zone. We’ve learned to trust each other.”