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Chicago Tribune
12 hours ago
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
‘There's really no stopping' Creighton commit Ava Drehs, the 2025 Naperville Sun Softball Player of the Year
Ava Drehs had recently moved from Aurora to Naperville when she and her father, Wayne, started exploring their new environs. She was about to begin first grade when she first saw Neuqua Valley. 'I had just started softball, so I wanted to see the schools,' Drehs said. 'Me and my dad drove past the Neuqua fields, and it was like, 'Oh, look at the awesome softball field.' 'I thought, 'Wow, if I could play softball for Neuqua, that would be amazing. It would be so cool if I could even make the varsity team one day.'' Drehs not only made the varsity team. She made history. 'She's amazing,' Neuqua Valley coach Danielle Asquini said. 'She's just gotten better every school year, and you can see that in her stats and the success that she's had. 'It's been amazing to watch her, and we're definitely going to miss it.' Drehs, the 2025 Naperville Sun Softball Player of the Year, was better than ever this season. The senior pitcher went 16-6 with a 1.54 earned-run average and a 0.87 WHIP for the DuPage Valley Conference champion Wildcats (17-15, 12-3). In 154 1/3 innings, Drehs struck out 278 and walked just 27. The Creighton recruit broke her single-season program record for strikeouts and also set the career strikeout mark with 670. Those records had been held by Hannah Meeks, who was the player of the year in 2021 and 2022 and pitches at Illinois State. 'She was super talented, and when she was a senior, I was a freshman, so I always looked up to her,' Drehs said. 'So to be able to know that I competed with the records that she held means a lot.' Drehs, the DuPage Valley Conference pitcher of the year and an all-state second-team pick, competed hard every time she played, never easing up. 'Ava is always ready to go and up for a challenge,' Asquini said. 'Even in relief, she's warmed up and ready. We can exchange a glance and know that her time might be coming. 'She is so excited, so hyped up every single time she's stepping in the circle.' Drehs didn't only overpower hitters. She also outsmarted them. 'Something that's really special about Ava is that she's constantly adjusting,' Neuqua Valley senior catcher Krista Waldusky said. 'So if she sees they're gonna chase that outside pitch, then she's like, 'I'm gonna push them further and further and further off the plate. I'm not gonna give them a good pitch to swing at because I know that they're gonna chase it.' 'If the first rise ball doesn't really break as much as she'd like it to, the next one will. She is constantly making those adjustments to make herself the hardest pitcher to hit.' Drehs did it with pinpoint control. She never walked more than two batters in any outing, so if she got ahead in the count, hitters always seemed to chase. Drehs is always chasing greatness by thinking ahead. 'This year, one big example of that is in our regional semifinal game against Oswego East,' she said. 'We won, but I wasn't really proud of the way I pitched. I feel like they were making a lot of contact, and I wasn't too happy about it 'So before our next game, I talked to coach, and we figured out some adjustments. When I brought that to Krista, I said, 'Look, I think we should try this.'' Drehs broke out a two-seam fastball and pitched a six-hitter with no earned runs in the Wildcats' 6-0 loss to Oswego, which won the state title on June 14. 'I had seven strikeouts, and five of them were on that new pitch,' Drehs said. 'So we're constantly adjusting what we're doing. It's never the same.' Indeed, Drehs is never standing still. She knows she will have to improve at Creighton, and Asquini doesn't doubt she will. 'As she gets older, I think she's going to get stronger,' Asquini said. 'That's what she wants, and when someone is as motivated as she is, there's really no stopping her at that point.' Drehs will major in elementary education and wants to return to Naperville as a first grade teacher. It would be a full-circle moment for someone who may already have inspired someone who could try to break her records. Drehs' sister Zoe, who will begin sixth grade in the fall, plays softball and soccer. 'I'm so excited,' Drehs said. 'I've always wanted to be a teacher. I have a little sister who is seven years younger than me, and I used to prop her up on chairs and teach her like we were in school.'
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.'
