St. Charles East comes out swinging hot sticks

Combine southern trips to Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia with renting an all-turf baseball field in Wheaton to some better-than-expected local weather conditions and you have a brief synopsis of Spring Break week - baseball and softball style.

Here are some of my observations from last week's action:

Power surge

The season is still young but few softball teams are swinging the bats any better than St. Charles East.

Through their first 5 games, the Saints have scored a total of 51 runs (10-run average) and have topped the double-digit mark 3 times.

It should come as no surprise that the Saints finished their first week of the 2015 campaign with an unblemished 5-0 record.

What has been a bit surprising is the Saints' early power surge.

Led by senior infielder Olivia Cheatham and junior pitcher/first baseman Jordan Hall, the Saints have launched 11 home runs in their first 5 games.

Cheatham smacked all 3 of her home runs during the Saints' doubleheader sweep of Wheaton North last Tuesday. The Evansville-bound, 3-year varsity starter drove 2 balls far over the left-field fence in an 11-1, 5-inning win in Game 1 before hitting her third long ball of the day in the Saints' 14-2, 6-inning Game 2 triumph.

Hall, meanwhile, picked up where she left off after joining the varsity midway through last season as she slammed a pair of home runs against Wheaton North and tied Cheatham for the team lead with her third home run against Jacobs last Thursday.

On the mound, Hall owns a 2-0 mark that includes a 4-hit, 3-strikeout performance in the Saints' 5-2 victory over Kaneland last Wednesday.

Senior third baseman/pitcher Alex Latoria, who will join Cheatham at Evansville, has hit a pair of home runs while sophomores Rylee Stout, Delaney Devor and freshman Madelyn Candre have also added home runs.

Both of Latoria's home runs came against college-bound pitchers - Kaneland senior Angie Morrow (Wisconsin) and Burlington Central junior Emily Kisch (Upper Iowa).

Saints coach Kelly Horan insists that her team's power surge is simply a product of its plate approach.

"We don't ever swing for the fences," said Horan. "My kids are disciplined right now and swing hard for base hits and sometimes the home run is the result."

Never give up

After watching a 9-3 lead turn into a 13-10 late-inning deficit during Game 2 of its doubleheader with Huntley last Saturday, Batavia's softball team refused to budge.

With 1 out and nobody on in the bottom of the seventh, the Bulldogs caught a break when Ryanne Rokos' slicing fly ball to deep left-center caromed off the glove of the Huntley center fielder and went for a triple. Elyse Burns' RBI single cut the deficit to 13-11.

Walks to Christina Karius and Natalie Offutt loaded the bases for Alyssa Klemm, who forced in a run after being hit by a pitch on the left arm to make it 13-12.

Two pitches later, Jena Bendoraitis capped the rally with a 2-run single to left, driving home Karius and a sliding Offutt with the tying and go-ahead runs in the Bulldogs' 14-13 wild 14-13 victory.

"We're always fighting," said Batavia coach Lupe Castellanos.

Equally impressive was the fact that the Bulldogs dropped the opener 16-0 in 5 innings.

"We erased that one and moved on to this game," said Bendoraitis, who finished 4-for-5 with 3 doubles and 5 RBI in Game 2.

Bendoraitis, a catcher/third baseman, is 1 of 4 sophomores on the Bulldogs' youth-oriented roster that includes classmates Toni Galas, Rachael Lovestrand, Alena Theis and freshman pitcher/outfielder Kaylan Waldron.

Surf and turf

While St. Charles North's baseball team went 5-0 at the Eastern Slam Tournament in northwest Tennessee and Kaneland finished the week with games in Georgia, Geneva had its trip to Kentucky cut short due to flooding rains that hit the area last week.

Meanwhile, Batavia rented the all-turf facilities at Pfund Field in Wheaton and played all 3 of its scheduled games.

The move paid dividends during the Bulldogs' Thursday morning contest against Naperville North. While many local teams saw their games canceled due to overnight rain, Batavia's clash with the Huskies began right on time - a 9:45 a.m. first pitch.

St. Charles East (2-2) was unable to play its scheduled game at York last Thursday but got in 4 games, including home contests against Prospect, Fremd and Sandburg.

The highlight of the week for coach Len Asquini's Saints came during their 2-1 nonconference victory over Fremd last Wednesday.

St. Charles East scratched a pair of runs across against Northwestern-bound right-handed pitcher Mack Rosman, thanks in part to Jake Clodi's leadoff double and Reid Olson's fifth-inning suicide squeeze bunt.

Dawg gone-it

Batavia graduated 3 Division 1 players - Laren Eustace (Indiana), Micah Coffey (Minnesota) and Jake Piechota (Western Michigan) from its 2014 team that finished 32-4 and advanced to the Class 4A sectional championship game.

The Bulldogs finished 1-2 during the first full week of the 2015 season.

Senior southpaw Evan Acosta showed why he should be the ace of the staff, throwing 5 innings of 3-hit ball during the Bulldogs' 6-2 season-opening victory over York on March 30. The Western Kentucky recruit struck out 5.

Eric Huizenga allowed 1 run in 4 innings while Ben Lynam fanned 7 in 3 innings of relief during the Bulldogs' 4-3 loss to Willowbrook on March 31.

Two days later, sophomore right-hander Glenn Albanese recorded 8 strikeouts in 5 innings against Naperville North. With a fastball clocked between 84-87 mph last week by a Louisville scout, Albanese should bolster coach Matt Holm's pitching staff.

Holm's opening day lineup against York was far different from the one he used 3 days later against Naperville North.

"Right now, all of our starting outfielders (Steve Busby, Willie Firth, Eric Huizenga) are nagging something so we have a totally inexperienced outfield out there today (Thursday)," said Holm, who started Jimmy Roach, Tyler Kledzik and Luke Beckmann against the Huskies.

Getting started

Although the Upstate Eight Conference River Division baseball race will not be decided until mid-May at the earliest, this week's schedule includes a pair of 3-game series between 4 title contenders.

UEC River champion Batavia began a 3-game set against St. Charles East Tuesday in St. Charles, while Geneva plays host to St. Charles North Tuesday and Thursday while visiting the North Stars Wednesday.

A strong start would certainly help.

You can reach Craig Brueske at csb4k@hotmail.com