CL South puts the hurt on St. Charles East
The numbers displayed on the scoreboard looked more like something you might see in mid-October on a football field rather than in mid-July on a baseball diamond.
Final score: Crystal Lake South 20, St. Charles East 7.
And no, there weren’t any missed extra points.
The sixth-seeded Gators (20-3) basically made life miserable for Saints pitchers throughout, bashing 22 base hits while capturing their first summer regional tournament title Thursday afternoon at St. Charles East.
Crystal Lake South advances to the Elite Eight portion of the Phil Lawler Illinois Baseball Summer State Tournament where it will face St. Laurence at 12:30 p.m. Monday at North Central College in Naperville.
“We’ve hit the ball well pretty much all summer,” said Gators coach Brian Bogda. “Twenty runs is a lot, though.”
Troy Bittenbender went 3-for-4 with a single, 2-run double and 3-run triple while driving in a career-high 6 runs for the victors against Saints pitchers Adam Eck, Isaac Nimick and John Finn.
He had plenty of support from his teammates, as leadoff hitter Paul Wille reached base 5 times and scored 3 runs, Will Fogel went 3-for-4 with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI, and Casey Oliver added a 2-run, first-inning single and a pair of infield hits.
How difficult did it get for the Saints?
Over the final 5 innings, the Gators’ first 3 batters all reached base and wound up scoring 13 of their 20 runs.
“Ouch — let’s start there,” said Saints coach Len Asquini, whose team finished its summer season at 18-6. “We just couldn’t get anybody out. That was the bottom line. Our pitchers just didn’t get it done.”
After being retired 1-2-3 in the second, the Gators’ lineup pounded out 18 runs and 20 base hits over the final 5 frames, including 10 runs over the last 2 innings.
“It was batting practice for them,” said Asquini, who guided the Saints to the summer state title in 2001.
“I’m looking over my sheet and I didn’t see one kid in their starting lineup that didn’t have 2 hits.
“It’s not making hitters hit tough pitches. I can’t see location but I think those balls were sitting right over the middle of the plate.”
Fifth-seeded St. Charles East grabbed a brief 3-2 lead thanks to a 3-run second inning that featured back-to-back singles by Joe Hoscheit and Troy DeFilippis, Ben Smith’s RBI single and Adam Rojas’ run-scoring groundout.
After the Gators’ 4-run third, the Saints answered with another 3-spot in the bottom half of the frame, highlighted by DeFilippis’ 2-run home run that sailed over the fence in right-center to tie the game at 6-all.
But Fogel’s 2-run double off of Saints reliever Nimick in the fourth put the Gators on top to stay. St. Charles East’s final run of the contest came across on Nick Erickson’s RBI double.
“For us to have to score 21 runs would be quite a task to say the least,” said Asquini. “After that third inning, we just couldn’t string those hits together.”
Despite the loss, Asquini learned some valuable things about his team this summer.
“We have a much better feeling for what we have and where people fit into this,” said the coach. “We’ve got a better idea who our top four are on the mound. Those are all objectives that you’re looking for in the summer.”
Boys soccer
SCE alumni game: The St. Charles East boys soccer program is celebrating 33 years of soccer by hosting its annual alumni game on Saturday, Aug. 18 at the St. Charles East Stadium Field.
Registration begins at 1:30 p.m. with the game starting at 2:30 p.m. The game is open to any graduate of St. Charles High School or St. Charles East High School who played high school soccer.
Upon completion of the game alumni are invited to stay to meet with the current St. Charles East soccer players and watch the annual intrasquad scrimmage game. A get-together will follow the event.
Contact Jorge Ortiz at 9jortiz9@gmail.com to sign up. Walk-ups on the day of the game are also welcome.
Football
7-on-7 tonight: Batavia High School will be hosting a 7-on-7 and lineman challenge with Geneva, St. Charles East and St. Charles North on July 20 beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Mooseheart in Batavia. This will be for the varsity level only and will be non-scored. There will be a $2 donation request; kids are free.
Girls volleyball
Koncelik picks Evansville: Batavia senior middle Kristen Koncelik has committed to the University of Evansville in the Missouri Valley Conference. Koncelik, who will be in her fourth year as a starter for Batavia this fall, earned a full scholarship.