Loss ends St. Charles North's record-setting season

St. Charles North's season ended Wednesday at St. Charles East - far from Joliet where they hoped it would end at next weekend's state tournament.

"We all had the expectation of winning this game and going down to Joliet this year," shortstop Ryan Richardson said. "I really think we had the team to do it. It just didn't work out."

Coach Todd Genke made sure to thank a senior class led by Richardson, Kevin Borst, Chase Williams, Mike Budka, Jared Shurtleff, Ryan Hudspeth and Matt Stevens for a school-best 34-5 season.

"I'm really proud of how we played this year," Genke said. "The seniors exemplified what we want out of our players. It's a little more bitter coming over here but it's a tough place to win. They played better than we did today."

What went wrong that St. Charles North did right in 34 of its 39 games this year? Genke went through four pitchers while his normally potent offense managed just 6 hits and left 9 on base.

"I was expecting to pitch a little better and thought we'd get more than 5 hits. We wanted to do a better job as a pitching staff to not let them add on," said Genke, who was asked if his team was flat.

"It's tough. You've got kids already out of school. I'm not making excuses. I thought we were loose coming over. I don't think they were flat. Sometimes they tried a little too hard. And you've got to give them (St. Charles East) credit too."

Richardson showed his character, down 9 runs and sprinting to first base after late-inning walks and a hit by pitch and hustling to retrieve a ball in foul ground in left field to throw out a runner at second.

"It doesn't matter the score you have to play 100 percent 100 percent of the time," Richardson said. "That's what I've always tried to do. Usually good things happen when you do that. Not today."