Brooks delivers game-winner in Saints' latest UEC win
Pick a different way for the St. Charles East softball team to win a game and the Saints will go out and do it.
Just look at this week. Fall behind and come back? Check. Dominate the game from start to finish? Check. Build a big lead, then have to rally when your opponent is the one coming back? Check.
Against Bartlett Wednesday, the Saints rallied from a 4-1 deficit to win. Then they did the opposite Friday against Lake Park, building that same 4-1 lead only to watch the Lancers come back and tie.
Only once again it was St. Charles East who came out on top - as it has in every conference game so far this year - this time on Mary Kate Brooks' two-out RBI single in the sixth inning that scored pinch-runner Claire Desrosiers from second base.
Both the Bartlett and Lake Park games resulted in 5-4 Saints victories, pushing them to 10-4 overall, 6-0 in the Upstate Eight.
"We've got a really good mixture of girls," Brooks said. "When some of us are off, the others pick up the slack. We all pick up ourselves well."
Rachael Edwards started the winning rally with a single. Bethany Carrignan bunted pinch runner Desrosiers to second.
Brooks singled up the middle and Desrosiers easily beat the throw to the plate.
"I tried to forgot about everything else because sometimes when you think too much it doesn't really help," Brooks said of her approach at the plate.
"When I hit it I thought I hope whoever is on base is running their butt off."
With a strong wind blowing straight out, St. Charles East got going early with 6 hits and 4 runs in the first inning to grab a 4-1 lead. Rebecca Reinbold drove in Pamela Sommer with the first run on a double to right-center, then RaeAnne Payleitner's single scored Reinbold.
After singles by Jenny Niemiec and Steph Roan loaded the bases, Edwards blooped a single just over the infield to score 2 more runs.
"As soon as we get here the wind is blowing straight out so we knew it wasn't going to be a 0-0 game," St. Charles East coach Kelly Barnett said. "We needed to play the way we know how."
The Saints played flawless defense, committing no errors. At the plate they only struck out twice.
Payleitner contributed to the defensive effort gunning down two would-be basestealers. Reinbold made a diving catch at short and first baseman Kayla Brooks also dove to catch a ball.
"She's (Payleitner) great," Barnett said. "She's our super soph. She really takes pride back there and gets it done."
Lake Park scored once in the fourth and twice in the sixth. Carly Willert blasted a solo home run in the fourth. The Lancers scored on a wild pitch and Sarah Koch's RBI single to tie the game 4-4 in the sixth, setting the stage for the Saints' rally in the bottom half.
Katie Stengler picked up the win in relief of Gabby Moe, pitching the final 1 1/3 innings.
The Lancers' Samantha Becker and Willert both had 2 hits. Lake Park (8-6, 2-3) couldn't build off its 17-run outburst Thursday against South Elgin.
"Until some of our girls commit and compete on a day in and day out basis we're going to be up and down," Lake Park coach Tom Mazzie said.
Mary Kate Brooks, Sommer, Niemiec and Edwards all had 2 hits to lead the Saints' 11-hit attack. St. Charles East has Saturday off before a busy week next week that includes key Upstate Eight games against St. Charles North and Neuqua Valley before hosting their annual tournament next weekend.
"We worked really hard on hitting strikes only, drive it down and hard," Barnett said. "The kids have really taken to it. That is really transcending itself on the field. We are playing pretty well right now."