St. Charles East relieved to defeat Neuqua

Allow St. Charles East coach Kelly Barnett to savor Friday's win at Neuqua Valley.

Any win in the dog-eat-dog Upstate Eight Conference is cause for celebration this spring.

"It's whoever is left standing at the end of the day in this conference," Barnett said.

Barnett's Saints are the sole team still undefeated in the league, and they kept it going with a 3-2 win in Naperville.

Bartlett, Lake Park, South Elgin, St. Charles North and Neuqua Valley have taken turns knocking each other off the first few weeks. St. Charles East (6-3, 3-0) handed Neuqua Valley (5-2, 3-2) its second loss in as many days.

"Any win over Neuqua Valley is an exciting one," Barnett said. "A huge win for us."

St. Charles East scored all of its runs in the third inning. Bethany Carrignan reached on a fielder's choice, and with two outs Pamela Sommer drew a walk off Neuqua sophomore pitcher Jena Boudreau. Wildcats ace Colleen Hohman came on in relief, and Rebecca Reinbold promptly blooped a single just in front of Neuqua right fielder Kat Widup to score Carrignan.

"The sun is brutal here," Neuqua coach Michelle Schmidt said. "Nine out of 10 times Kat is going to play those balls really well."

Jenny Niemec followed with a single past first base to bring home 2 more runs.

"(Hohman) pitched against us last year," Niemec said, "so I was familiar with her. I knew she was a little bit faster to the plate, so I just moved back in the box."

"It was Boudreau's first opportunity to start," Schmidt said, "and we wanted to give Colleen a couple innings rest. I thought Boudreau did an excellent job and we brought Colleen in at the right time. We just have to make the plays defensively."

Neuqua left runners in scoring position in the first, second and fourth innings but drew within 3-1 on Jenna Marsalli's run-scoring single in the sixth.

In the seventh Corinne Sheley tripled with one out and scored as Widup reached on an error with two gone. But Amanda Mener was thrown out on a close play at first on a grounder to third, ending the game with Marsalli in the on deck circle.

"We did exactly what we needed to in the seventh inning," Schmidt said, "and executed perfectly. The ball very well could have bounced the other way."

Saints pitcher Gaby Moe scattered 6 hits against a Neuqua lineup averaging 8 runs per game coming in.

"They have fantastic hitters," Barnett said. "Gaby kept them off-balance just enough. She stood tough when she needed to."