Softball: St. Charles North throttles Geneva

It was Payback Tuesday for the St. Charles North softball team - in more ways than one.

First, the North Stars settled a score with Geneva in a big way, reversing a 10-3 loss two weeks ago by pounding out 23 hits on their way to a 12-4 win.

That victory effectively sealed an outright Upstate Eight Conference River title for St. Charles North (19-4, 13-2) - ending rival St. Charles East's stay on top of the River the past two years.

"It's nice to get it back," said North Stars coach Tom Poulin whose team can put the finishing touches on the title this week against Larkin and Streamwood. "It's not easy. The level of softball that's around this area. A lot to be proud of to be able to check one of the boxes we had at the beginning of the year."

The North Stars sent 10 batters to the plate in the first inning and had 6 hits, the start of an onslaught that ended with 8 of the North Stars' 9 starters getting at least 2 hits.

Sophomore Alyssa Eby led the way going 4-for-5 with a double and her first home run.

"It was really exciting and to do it in such a big game for us is really cool," Eby said. "Especially against such a good team we lost to last time. We were really hungry to win."

Amanda James, Allison Moberg, Maddie Webb and winning pitcher Jillian Waslawski all delivered 3 hits, and Ashlyn Jozefowicz, Allison Hausl and Sam Hausl all had 2.

"We would love to bottle that up," Poulin said. "Not too many people are doing that to Geneva. We had a nice day today. They were a little more focused. I could tell a difference."

A dropped flyball by Geneva (20-9, 10-7) in the first inning led to 4 unearned runs against starter Alissa Dierks and a 4-0 deficit, but the Vikings battled back in the third with a 2-out, 2-run double by Rachel Fanella bringing them within 4-3 - a rally fueled by two North Stars errors.

Eby quickly got the momentum back on the North Stars' side with her 2-run home run in the fourth, and Jordyn Wolfe made it 8-3 with a 2-run single.

"She's (Eby) had a great season in the field and at the plate," Poulin said. "She's one of those kids you love to coach. Yes sir, no sir, whatever you want. She's intelligent, she asks intelligent questions. She adds things to the discussion that are relevant and make sense. And she's a real good teammate, she will do whatever is asked."

James blasted a 2-run homer in the sixth, and Moberg ended the game with a diving catch in the bottom of the seventh.

Katie Keller led Geneva with 3 hits.

"It's been a long time since we've given up 20 hits to anybody," Geneva coach Greg Dierks said. "That 5-8 spot in their batting order really did a lot of damage to us. I thought Jillian bounced back from how the first game went and did a real good. It was a tough day for us but we still want to finish strong heading into next week."