St. Charles North evens up series with St. Charles East

If St. Charles North needed an exclamation point on its series-tying win over visiting St. Charles East Wednesday, senior catcher Matt Stevens provided it - and then some.

Turns out it was a good thing the St. Charles North-South Elgin softball game ended well before the baseball battle, because Stevens' tape-measure homer landed about where North Stars right fielder Ashley Seering is positioned when she's playing shallow.

Stevens' towering blast capped a come-from-behind 13-7 victory for the North Stars, who maintained their narrow Upstate Eight Conference lead heading into the series finale today at Elfstrom Stadium.

It's not all that unusual for home runs to sail over the center field fence at St. Charles North and land on the softball field. But for a right-handed hitter to pull the ball and drive it as far onto the softball field as Stevens did?

You can understand why the Central Michigan bound catcher called it perhaps the most memorable homer he has hit in his three years behind the plate for the North Stars.

"Given the situation, St. Charles East, we really need this win, we just battled back - everything, plus the distance, it just made it special for me," Stevens said. "It really got people fired up. Even more fired up than we were before."

After spotting St. Charles East (16-8, 10-5) an 8-3 lead after one inning Tuesday, the North Stars again fell behind on their home field. Saints cleanup hitter Ryan O'Dell followed singles by Robert Wendt (3-for-5) and Johnathon Erickson with a 2-run single up the middle.

St. Charles North's cleanup hitter, Kevin Borst, matched O'Dell with a 2-run double to tie the game in the bottom of the first.

The Saints grabbed a 6-2 lead with a 4-run second. Luke Rojas delivered the big blow, a 2-run home run to right center.

The North Stars (20-4, 12-3) turned the game around with a 7-run third inning helped by 4 Saints errors. Jake Bergren and Ryan Richardson opened the inning with singles, and Mike Budka followed with an RBI single for what turned out to be the only earned run Saints starter Wendt allowed in the inning.

The Saints misplayed a ball at short and two in the outfield that led to six unearned runs. Andrew Elliot and Dirk Schmitt made them pay with run-scoring hits that chased Wendt (4-2), who lasted 2 2/3 innings after closing out the Saints' 10-7 win Tuesday.

"I think our pitcher had to throw seven or eight outs," Saints coach Dave Haskins said. "We wore out our pitcher. We had the momentum and defensively we didn't take care of business. It changed the momentum and from there on we struggled."

North Stars starter Ryan Hudspeth improved to 5-0, scattering 6 hits and 6 walks before leaving after he walked the first two hitters in the fifth inning with a 9-6 lead.

Phil Warner, making his first relief appearance this year, walked the first batter he faced to load the bases with no outs and the top of the Saints order coming up. The junior lefty stranded the tying runs on base, inducing a pop to short and then getting Wendt and Erickson on called third strikes.

"He (Warner) was looking a little tight the first batter but then he got everything working for him," Stevens said. "I was very impressed. He really carried our team."

Haskins then removed Erickson from the game for arguing the called third strike. The Saints only got 1 hit in 3 innings off Warner (4-0, 1 save), while the North Stars tacked on 4 insurance runs against Saints relievers C.J. Montgomery and John Martini. In addition to Stevens' 2-run blast, Schmitt ripped his second run-scoring hit and the final run scored on a wild pitch.

Every North Star starter had at least 1 hit, including Chase Williams who is back this week after it was originally feared on Saturday that he'd be lost for 4-to-6 weeks with mono.

Budka, John Brodner, Elliot and Schmitt all had 2 hits for the North Stars.

For the fourth time in four tries this year, St. Charles North has responded from a loss with a win. Hudspeth also picked up a win the day after the North Stars lost 22-6 to Waubonsie Valley last month.

"He pitches to contact and started to do that a little better," St. Charles North coach Todd Genke said. "That was big to give us the four innings he did.

"We showed some resiliency. We didn't quit and that's a sign of a good team."

Genke said Jared Shurtleff is a game-time decision to start Thursday while Haskins counters with his ace Wes Benjamin, 7-0 this year.

"We feel good. We got our No. 1 on the bump and it is about winning series," Haskins said.