Softball: Webb powers St. Charles North past West Chicago

It was not the most proper of greetings by Maddie Webb.

But the St. Charles North senior more than helped her own cause in the process.

Webb was the first batter Izzy Zentner faced after the latter replaced West Chicago starter Taylor Dehaeseleer in the top of the fourth with two outs in the schools' Upstate Eight Conference crossover softball game.

The North Stars' starting pitcher launched a 3-run home run to dead center field to cap a 6-run inning.

It was the centerpiece of the North Stars' 11-2 victory Wednesday afternoon in West Chicago.

St. Charles North extended its season-opening win streak to five games.

"It felt good," Webb said of her first home run of the spring. "I just kept seeing pitches. I think it was a really good pitch (to hit) - and it went over (the fence)."

All 6 runs in the inning were unearned as the Wildcats (1-6, 0-3) were undone by 7 fielding errors on the day.

Prior to the Webb home run, St. Charles North third-baseman Grace Quinn had one of one of 4 extra-base hits for the North Stars - a double - to score Jillian Waslawski, who reached on what should have been the third out of the inning.

"I got a shot where I could hit the ball," Quinn said.

"It's frustrating," West Chicago coach Sean Gimpert said of the Wildcats' defensive miscues. "We don't have strikeout pitchers. Our pitchers are getting better. We have to make those plays."

Since Tom Poulin took over the St. Charles North program six years - the North Stars were the Class 3A runner-up that year - the three-sport coach has forged a defining identity for his club.

"We think that pitching and defense is going to carry us," Poulin said.

There is another central element to the North Stars' offensive strategy: placing unrelenting pressure on the opposition defense with baserunning prowess.

"You can manufacture some runs by being aggressive on the base paths," Poulin said. "Our girls did a nice job - of once they get on base - of putting pressure on (West Chicago)."

With a 7-1 lead after its fourth-inning eruption, St. Charles North (5-0, 2-0) erased all doubt as to the outcome of the game with a 3-run fifth.

Allie Moberg had the only official RBI in the inning for St. Charles North.

Webb, meanwhile, did not allow a run in the Wildcats' fourth inning after a leadoff single and double, respectively, by the Wildcats' Alyssa Szulczewski and Zentner.

"It was a matter of keeping the hitter off-guard," Webb said of the subsequent outs by foul pop, called strikeout and comebacker.