North Stars stay composed, win regional
How nervous did St. Charles North get during its 3-2, 9-inning victory over Lake Park Saturday morning to win the Class 4A Lake Park regional title?
"I don't usually get the shakes and I had the shakes in the ninth," St. Charles North coach April Stary said. "It started after the seventh."
The North Stars led 2-1 going into the bottom of the seventh, with the Lancers sending the bottom of their order up against Amanda Engel.
But on a day every Lake Park batter had at least 1 hit, there weren't any easy outs to be found. No. 9 hitter Alyssa Robison laced a double to the right center gap, tying the game 2-2.
Kelly Mieszala followed with a single, putting the winning run at third base with only 1 out.
Engel escaped, catching Lake Park's No. 2 hitter looking on strikes, then getting Samantha Becker to ground to shortstop Natalie Capone who stepped on second for the force.
"That's been our signature has been our defense, our ability to get outs no matter what the situation around us is," Stary said.
Lake Park left 9 runners on base but none more costly than Robison in the seventh.
"We just never came up big in the big situations," Lake Park coach Tom Mazzie. "Take your hat off to their pitchers. All the strikeouts in bad situations kind of cost us. We had it there in the seventh and we kind of gave it away. They (St. Charles North) kept battling. They could have packed it in the bottom of the seventh."
Once free from the jam, Stary turned to Amanda Ciran in extra innings. Engel struck out eight and walked none in her 7 innings, but Stary liked how Ciran pitched against Lake Park during the regular season.
Ciran came through, retiring 6 of the 7 batters she faced in the eighth and ninth.
"Both Amandas did their job," Stary said. "A few of them were hitting Amanda well into the gaps and we can't have that in extra innings. (Ciran) went in and got the job done."
Sophomore center fielder Ashley Seering sparked the winning rally in the ninth with a double. Ciran followed by reaching on a 2-base error, scoring Seering for what proved to be the winning run.
Seering had 3 hits, including a single during the North Stars' 2-run fourth inning that gave them a 2-1 lead. Ciran and Kristin Damn both had RBI singles in the fourth. Seering was glad to bounce back after being disappointed in a 1-for-3 effort her previous game.
"I was thinking too much at the plate and I wanted to contribute to my team," Seering said. "Today I just went out there and I thought to myself the only way I can focus is to zone everything out and I have to see the ball right off the hip and make solid contact, and that's what I did today."
Kelly Loy (15-4) was the hard-luck loser, going all 9 innings and striking out five with no walks.
Going by the seeds, No. 5 St. Charles North (26-9) upset No. 4 Lake Park (21-15), though the records indicate it was no surprise. The teams split two games during Upstate Eight play, Lake Park winning 4-3 and St. Charles North taking the second 3-0.
Now going by the seeds, the North Stars caught a great break with Glenbard West's upset over No. 1 Elk Grove on Saturday. The North Stars will return to Lake Park at 5 p.m. Wednesday to play Glenbard West in the sectional semifinals. They'll be going for the first sectional championship in school history after Saturday's win gave them their third regional title, first since 2006.
Mazzie, who coached Lake Park to third in state last year with six sophomores in the starting lineup, likes what the North Stars are doing with their eight sophomore starters.
"Obviously those girls have played together, they are comfortable with each other, it's all about gelling," Mazzie said. "The one thing about all being sophomores, you are all in the same boat and you can all feed off each other. Obviously they play well together and they play hard. They are an enthusiastic team and they will put pressure on you in a lot of ways."