St. Charles North falls in 11th inning

West Chicago softball coach Jim Schaudt has been around the game long enough not to become too enamored with talented newcomers.

But pitching whiz Mary Connolly may be changing that viewpoint.

"I'm very wary of the hype," Schaudt said. "For once it was justified."

The freshman right-hander fired nothing but goose eggs at St. Charles North in the championship game of the Class 4A Geneva regional Saturday morning.

Connolly mowed down 15 North Stars on strikes against a pair of walks, and Linnea Detrick had the most important of the Wildcats' 7 hits.

With Kaity Olson on second with her third hit of the game with two outs in the top of the 11th inning, Detrick delivered in the clutch for the only run of the contest.

With its 1-0 victory, the first postseason championship in nine years and only the second in program history, fifth-seeded West Chicago (23-6) advances to meet DuPage Valley Conference rival Glenbard North on Wednesday at the Schaumburg sectional.

The fourth-seeded North Stars closed out at 23-12.

"I was just thinking (the game) had gone long enough," Detrick said. "Whoever wants it most was going to win."

Connolly and St. Charles North sophomore Amanda Engel went the distance for both teams.

Sydney Russell and Christine Roggemann were the only North Stars to solve Connolly during regulation, and the game had a defining moment when Amanda Ciran was called out trying to stretch a double into a triple in the bottom of the ninth.

"I was there on top of it," St. Charles North coach April Stary said. "What I saw was her feet come in, and she got tagged on the chest. We're not going to split hairs over the call. Even is she were safe, we still needed to find a way to drive her in. The bottom line is that we had 33 outs to get a run across the plate, and we didn't."

Connolly has recorded all but one of the Wildcats' 23 wins this spring, and the freshman was quick to credit her teammates for overcoming the epic pitching duel.

"Our defense doesn't let up," Connolly said. "I was just excited that we had a chance to pull it out."

"Two great teams playing hard," Schaudt said. "Both teams had opportunities to win -- but not many."

The Detrick game-winning single to center was the first time either team had a multiple-hit inning.

"When you go out like that, you don't have a whole lot to complain about," Stary said.