Plainfield Central spoils St. Charles North's debut
Plainfield Central sophomore pitcher Brooklyn Daley not only truly helped her own cause in the top of the fourth inning Tuesday but also completely altered the feel of the St. Charles North softball season opener.
The left-handed batter blasted a 3-run homer in the inning and then the right-hander limited the North Stars to 3 harmless singles over her final seven innings of work on the mound.
Plainfield Central erased the North Stars' 4-run lead after two innings with a solo home run by Gretchen Egly in the fifth.
The Wildcats' Sammie Sabor hit a sharp two-out single to right-center in the top of the ninth as Plainfield Central spoiled the North Stars' home opener, 5-4, in extra innings.
"I just wanted to help my team," Daley said of her blast over the left-center fence. "It was such a rush."
"You can't miss up," St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said of the two home runs. "You can't miss over the plate. They took advantage of it."
The North Stars (0-1) had a very promising start as the squad had a pair of runs in each of the first two innings.
But the damage against Decker (2-0) could have been far worse.
Abby Howlett plated Jordyn Wolfe in the first with an opposite-field double and moved to third on the Wildcats' tardy throw to the plate.
The senior scored when Abby Moberg was thrown out at first base on a sharp one-hopper to the Wildcats' right-fielder.
The first four St. Charles North batters of the second inning - Allison Hausl, Erin Nemetz, Sam Hausl and Amanda James - reached safely with three singles and a walk.
But the North Stars would only score once more in the inning - and that was on an errant pickoff attempt.
It was the only error of the nine-inning game by either team.
"We left too many runners in scoring position throughout the game," Poulin said. "We get a timely hit here or there - (we score) 6, 7, maybe 8 runs."
Moberg and Nemetz had singles for the North Stars in their third, but both players were left on the base paths.
It would prove important as the North Stars would not have another hit until Nemetz collected her third single of the game in the eighth inning.
The game would have ended in the eighth if not for the defensive play of the game by Wolfe.
The sophomore left-fielder gunned down a Plainfield girl trying to score on a one-out single.
"I just knew there was a runner on (second) base," Wolfe said. "I knew what the score was. I had to come up throwing and let the infielders do what they needed to do."