Glenbard North 5, St. Charles East 2

It was clearly Hannah Santora's day Wednesday.

Santora, the Glenbard North softball team's starting pitcher and leadoff hitter, had a nice day on the mound and produced the hit of the game in the Panthers' 5-2 win over St. Charles East in the Class 4A Bartlett regional semifinal.

"The team builds off of her," Glenbard North coach Josh Sanew said. "You can really see they pick it up off of her…she did it all today."

"I'm just glad I could help out the team," Santora added.

With the win, the No. 8 seeded Panthers improved to 17-11 and will face Bartlett in the regional final at Bartlett. St. Charles East, the No. 9 seed, capped the year 15-15.

Santora scored the first run of the game after she led the game off with a single and scored on Bri DiGioia sac fly RBI.

Glenbard North's big inning arrived in the second. After three consecutive singles from Jenny Blasius, Elisabeth Walter and Shannon Hood, Santora's 1-out double with two strikes cleared the bases and gave the Panthers the 4-0 advantage.

"You really can't ask for anything more from a leadoff hitter," Sanew said. "She was amazing. She hit that ball hard too, which was nice."

"I've been practicing hitting with my dad," Santora added. "It felt pretty good."

In the fourth, Blasius hit a leadoff double and eventually scored on Hood's sacrifice fly RBI to round out Glenbard North's scoring.

St. Charles East showed promise in the sixth, after Rebecca Reinbold hit a 2-run triple that allowed Casey Driessen and Mary Kate Brooks to score with two outs.

Santora (15-7), however, did a solid job of preventing the Saints to do any major damage. The junior finished with 9 strikeouts while giving up 5 hits and no walks.

"I thought she did a great job of mixing it up," Sanew said. "When she's on, she carries this team. She's kept us in it all year long. It's just a perfect example of what a great pitcher she is."

"We weren't being very disciplined at the plate," St. Charles East coach Eric Ray said. "She kept us off-balanced and she definitely set the tone."

The Panthers are looking forward to playing Bartlett, the No. 1 seed, on their home field Saturday.

"There's a reason why they are ranked," Sanew said of the Hawks, who were in attendance for Wednesday's game. "They have a very nice team. They play well together, they do a lot of the little things. We have our work ahead of us, but at the same time, we are anxious. We want to get at it. With the way we feel, we can play with anyone when we are out here playing our game. It should be an excellent match."