Softball: St. Charles East outslugs St. Charles North
With the wind blowing straight out Wednesday at St. Charles North, it didn't take long for the softballs to start flying out.
Delaney Devor, the second batter in the game, connected on a long home run to left field. Her teammate Paige Ligocki socked two more homers, and St. Charles East outhomered St. Charles North 3-2, outhit the North Stars 16-13, and came out on top 10-8 in a slugfest between the crosstown rivals.
"It was a good start to the game. I was really excited to play them," said Devor, who had the difficult task of pitching 7 innings in conditions that favored hitters.
"It (the wind) definitely didn't help. You get a piece of it and it will fly. I knew I had to throw strikes and put it in there and my team would be backing me up."
No. 10 St. Charles East (13-3, 4-1 in the Upstate Eight Conference River) scored 2 runs in both the first and second innings to lead 4-0. Jordan Hieber delivered the big blow in the second, a 2-run single.
No. 8 St. Charles North (5-4, 1-3), which lost its fourth straight, scored 4 runs in the second. Jillian Waslawski opened the inning with a home run, and after Maddie Webb's single and a double by Natalie Walters, No. 9 hitter Aislen Kelly launched a 3-run homer to tie the game 4-4.
Sarah Kreiner kept the score tied by throwing out Jordyn Wolfe at the plate on a single to right field.
"Sarah has played a lot of infield for us," Saints coach Jarod Gutesha said. "She's got a great arm. She does a lot of things well. She one-hopped that ball and threw out one of the fastest players around. They are thinking she is going to be able to score and Sarah came up with a great throw. That was big momentum for us. That was awesome."
The Saints regained the lead in the fourth on Ligocki's 2-run homer way over the left-field fence. She added a solo shot to right field in the sixth and finished the day 4-for-5 with 4 RBI.
"I was trying to relax, focus, get out in front of it and hit it hard," said Ligocki, now with 5 home runs. "I felt they came off my bat nicely and hard."
Delaney stranded the bases loaded in the fifth to keep the Saints ahead 6-5, then her teammates scored three times in the top of the sixth for a 9-5 lead. Sara Campagna's double plated Hannah Cozzi who had singled, and Kreiner followed with an RBI single.
Down 10-5 in the bottom of the seventh, the North Stars made things interesting with a double by Webb and RBI hits from Waslawski, Walters and Wolfe. Saints left fielder Maddy Stout made a key play when she threw out a runner trying to get to third base, and Delaney ended the game inducing a groundout to third baseman Megan Daly.
"As good as I felt going into the seventh inning, it's still East-North and all the emotions that come with that," Gutesha said. "You know no matter what the score is, the kids are still going to be excited. It got exciting at the end and we were able to hold on."
Hieber had 3 hits for the Saints and Devor, Rylee Stout, Campagna and Kreiner all had 2.
The North Stars, who entered the game hitting just .268, got 2-hit games from Wolfe, Ali Moberg, Waslawksi, Webb and Walters but made 3 errors behind pitchers Waslawski and Walters.
"This is our best game offensively," North Stars coach Tom Poulin said. "They are a very good hitting team. They hit some tough pitches hard. I think if we were a little cleaner defensively it could have been a different outcome."