Surprise matchup for St. Charles North
It’s not the matchup that St. Charles North’s softball team expected, but it’s a challenge nonetheless.
The North Stars return to their second sectional in three years Thursday when No. 2 seed St. Charles North (28-3) meets No. 6 Leyden (27-7) at 4:30 p.m. at Schaumburg.
The winner plays the winner of today’s semifinal between No. 1 Elk Grove (31-4) and No. 5 West Chicago (21-10).
Leyden reached the sectional by upsetting No. 3 seed Conant Saturday while the North Stars knocked off Lake Park 11-1.
“We realize that, at this point, anyone still playing is good enough to win it all, so Leyden definitely has our respect and attention ... especially after beating Conant,” North Stars coach Tom Poulin said.
Leyden brings an ace in Morgan Maize (24-4), who also has Katie Ryan-type power at the plate. Just like Batavia’s Ryan, Maize has 18 home runs this year including a pair to key the upset of Conant. She has driven in 77 runs.
“We will have to be sure not to let her impact the game with her bat,” Poulin said.
While Sydney Russell and Taylor Russell both homered Saturday, the North Stars caused more headaches for Lake Park coach Tom Mazzie with all their speed and ability to put pressure on the defense.
“When you have that balance of lefty-righty and speed you can do whatever you want,” Mazzie said. “It keeps the defense guessing. There were times we came in and they fired it through the infield, there were times we stayed back and they bunt. They took exactly how we played and went to the weak spot. It’s tough.”
Poulin wants to see more of the same Thursday.
“We will need to force them to make plays defensively and put some pressure on them with our team speed,” Poulin said. “Honestly, we are looking to have the same approach we have had all season. Just being focused on the next task at hand, pitch by pitch, inning by inning. If we can get our speedsters on and set the table for the middle to bottom of our order, we should have success.”
Those speedsters, Sydney Russell (.455 average, 20 runs) and Loren Cihlar (.390 average, 27 runs), have given power bats Taylor Russell (.470, 6 home runs, 42 RBI), Ashley Seering (.469, 6 HRs, 38 RBI) and Annie Korth (.351) many RBI opportunities. The bottom of the order also has come through plenty of times this year starting rallies.
“We like our lineup from 1-9,” Poulin said. “That has been our game plan all along. Hopefully we drive the ball and get them moving around the bases, but if needed we can manufacture some runs as well. We have developed the ability to win games with multiple styles, so the girls are confident in themselves and each other. We will need it all against a quality pitcher and team like Leyden.”
One of the ways the North Stars can win games is a 2-0 type game with an ace like Amanda Ciran, who has only lost 1 game, to Geneva. She’s 20-1 and held Lake Park to 1 run in 6 innings Saturday with 4 strikeouts.
Ciran has 130 strikeouts this year and a 0.96 ERA but said she is just as happy letting her defense get the outs.
“I don’t want to strike everybody out, I want to show our defense,” Ciran said. “I want to show how good we are.”
“We were awesome on defense and our offense was awesome as well,” Taylor Russell added after the Lake Park win. “Our team chemistry is at a high right now. Amanda is doing awesome and I’m glad to see as a team we are collectively doing well. It’s awesome to see.”
It’s also awesome for the senior-dominated team to close out their careers on a high note after last year’s disappointing end. These four-year varsity players are 107-29: 23-12 as freshmen, 27-10, 29-4 and now 28-3.
“I don’t know if last year will ever be forgotten,” Ciran said of the regional loss to York. “It is definitely in the back of our minds. It’s definitely propelling us this year. We don’t want that to happen again. We want to go far. We don’t want to lose at all. We want this to be a streak. We have two games going, let’s go get some more.”