Softball: St. Charles North wins thriller over St. Charles East
St. Charles North went to the bottom of the sixth inning against its rival St. Charles East on Friday in a bad mood.
How the North Stars channeled that anger not only enabled them to complete a season sweep of the Saints, coach Tom Poulin said it bodes well for the stretch run.
After the Saints took a 3-2 lead on a controversial call in the top of the sixth, the North Stars scored once in the bottom of the inning to tie the game, then plated the winning run in the seventh on an Amanda James single for a 4-3 victory.
St. Charles North (14-3, 10-1) bounced back from a loss to Geneva on Thursday with a come-from-behind win that puts it in control of the Upstate Eight Conference River Division race.
"They just kept playing," Poulin said. "We told them you are going to have to overcome multiple things if you are going to go on a tournament run. This was a great game to get us ready for the rest of the year."
Trailing 2-1 against Natalie Walters, St. Charles East (22-4, 9-3) tied the game on Rylee Stout's sixth home run of the year. Jordan Hieber walked, took second on a wild pitch and was on her way home on Jordan Hall's line single to left.
North Stars left fielder Ashlyn Jozefowicz came up firing, and catcher Sam Hausl caught the ball and made a quick swipe tag as Hieber did her best to slide around it.
The umpire ruled Hausl missed the tag, giving the Saints a 3-2 lead as Hausl immediately reacted that she had tagged Hieber.
"Some plays don't go your way," Hausl said. "That one I had her. If we lose because of that I'm not going to be happy."
Poulin certainly wasn't happy.
"She's the type that will look at me and say get back in the dugout if she didn't tag her," Poulin said. "She tagged her. Those are two of the best umpires in the state. He called what he saw."
The North Stars tied the game without a hit in the sixth. James and Allison Moberg walked, Alyssa Eby bunted them over and Hausl's fly ball plated James.
"I thought we played tournament softball today as far as moving runners when we had to and having quality at-bats and coming through in the clutch," Poulin said.
Jillian Waslawski, who didn't start because she was late to the game taking the AP test, relieved Walters in the seventh and retired the Saints' first 3 hitters in order.
Allison Hausl reached on an infield error to start the bottom of the seventh. Jordyn Wolfe walked, and Jozefowicz blooped a ball that landed between the Saints' right fielder and second baseman to load the bases with 1 out.
James battled through a long at-bat against Hall before hitting a sharp grounder up the middle that Hieber got a glove on but had no play at the plate.
"I knew it was my turn to do my job," James said. "I knew just keep hacking. She was moving the ball around. See a strike and take a hack at it."
The North Stars' first 2 runs came on Samantha Hausl's second home run in 3 days, a 2-run shot to left after she had missed a bunt sign the pitch before.
"I didn't even realize I missed it until I got to the bench," Hausl laughed. "I thought at least I got a hit."
Walters didn't find out she was pitching until 4:30 p.m. She struck out four and allowed 5 hits in 6 innings.
"I was pumped up and ready to go," said Walters, adding her drop ball was her most effective pitch. "It was a whole team effort."
Kelly Rinker added a run-scoring single in the fifth for the Saints after Paige Ligocki started the 2-out rally with a double.
"We've still got plenty of games left," Saints coach Jarod Gutesha said. "We'll bounce back."