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St. Charles East tops Geneva in unusual fashion

Katie Kolb was somewhat clueless in the top of the eighth inning.

"I had no idea where the ball was," the St. Charles East sophomore said. "I was just picking up my coach (Kelly Horan) at third base."

Kolb, who had bunted safely with one out, scored all the way from first base on an errant throw to make the difference in the Saints' 4-3 victory over Geneva Tuesday afternoon in Upstate Eight Conference River Division softball action.

"We were tied, so I needed to get on base any way I could," said Kolb, who motored home when the throw at first scooted all the way down the right-field line.

One inning earlier, after the Vikings had three consecutive extra-base hits with two outs to take a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth, the Saints' Mackenzie Lofgren sent the game in Geneva into extra-innings with a leadoff home run to right-center field.

Pinch-hitting for St. Charles East starting pitcher Haley Beno, who went the distance to improve to 11-4, Lofgren was staked to a 2-0 count.

"I was hoping (the Geneva pitcher) would throw a nice meatball - and she did," Lofgren said of her lone plate appearance. "After it popped off the bat, I knew it was going far."

St. Charles East (20-5, 10-2) had 10 hits on the day and was retired in order only once.

The Saints scored single runs against the Vikings (13-7, 6-4) in the first and fourth as Alex Latoria and Jordan Hieber had run-scoring singles.

Beno retired the first six batters she faced, but Jenelle Reilly doubled to lead off the Vikings' third; the senior tied the game at 1-1 by scoring on the back end of a double steal with McKenna Schimmel.

Geneva coach Greg Dierks said the early portion of the game was the difference.

"We shouldn't still be playing the game at that point (of the critical throwing error)," Dierks said. "We made so many mistakes early. We missed signs the whole day."

But the meat of the Vikings' lineup produced with none on and two out in the sixth.

Annika Radabaugh, Kaitlyn Plocinski and Madison Keith had consecutive doubles to dead center, left-center and right-center in succession.

"I always try to hit to right field," said Keith, a right-handed batter. "I like outside pitching. It felt pretty good coming off the bat."

Radabaugh and Plocinski scored to give Geneva a potential win.

But the defending Class 4A state runner-up Saints managed to score single runs in diametrically different fashion in the last two innings.

"(The loss) doesn't sting," Dierks said. "We're disappointed where our execution is at this point of the season."

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