Softball: St. Charles East bounces back from loss

Perhaps the best part of playing softball in a weekend tournament format is the opportunity to bounce back from a tough loss.

There is no need to wait 24 or 48 hours.

A few minutes after suffering a 5-3 setback at the hands of Maine South, St. Charles East quickly put a crooked number on the scoreboard against Harlem Saturday afternoon.

Maddie Candre's opposite-field 3-run home run capped a 5-run first inning, as the Saints (16-2-1) cruised to a 14-1, 5-inning victory in the finale of their own 2-day tournament.

Junior pitcher Delaney Devor helped her own cause by belting a grand slam over the fence in right-center during the Saints' 6-run fourth.

"This was my first one," Devor said of the grand slam. "I just wanted to help my team because my teammates had been working hard this weekend. It was a good feeling."

Devor, who also was the winning pitcher during the Saints' 14-0, 4-inning morning triumph over Hoffman Estates, was pleased to help get her team back on track after the middle-game loss to Maine South.

"We definitely wanted to refocus and just come back with a win," said Devor, who was 3 for 3 with 4 RBI against Harlem. "It was nice to kick the loss out of our heads."

"That last game was a nice culmination of the weekend," said Saints coach Jarod Gutesha. "And it came against a pretty good Harlem team."

St. Charles East finished the tournament with a 3-1-1 record.

"When you look at the weekend as a whole, there were balls flying around all over the place," said Gutesha. "We were hitting the ball on the barrel."

Oswego East posted victories over Maine South (8-2), Lyons (4-3), and Hoffman Estates (7-4) to capture the tourney title with a 4-1 mark.

The Saints handed Oswego East its lone tourney loss, 9-2, on Friday.

"That's the way it goes," said Gutesha.

Against Maine South, the Saints fell behind 3-0 in the second before cutting the deficit to 3-2 in the top of the sixth.

Jordan Hieber led off the frame with a double before Rylee Stout's RBI single put the Saints on the board. A throwing error allowed their second run to score.

However, the Hawks added a pair of insurance runs in their half of the sixth thanks in part to a couple defensive miscues by the Saints.

Stout's seventh-inning sacrifice fly made it 5-3 but the Saints left the tying run at first as Maine South pitcher Stefanie Guercio retired the final out on an infield pop-up.

"We put some little rallies together," said Gutesha. "At the end of game two, I think the main focus was that we wanted to come back and play well in game three (Saturday).

"When you have five games in 24 hours, there's going to be some ups and there's going to be some downs. The message was that we wanted to finish strong in that fifth game (of the tournament) and I think we did."

Maddy Stout (5 RBI) and Kelly Rinker (3 doubles) fueled the Saints' attack against Hoffman Estates.