St. Charles N. tops Batavia
Rest assured Amanda Ciran never likes to lose, but if there is such a thing as a good loss for St. Charles North it came last Friday at Geneva.
“We had that point in our season when we got too comfortable and we weren’t as hungry anymore,” Ciran said. “It was a turning point in the season. It benefited us as much as losing can benefit you because it made us step back and look at ourselves and get fired up. It was a good loss, the one time it’s good to lose.”
Ciran and the North Stars showed they are back on track Wednesday in a 5-2 win at Batavia (16-6, 8-6).
The North Stars (20-2, 14-1) scored all the runs Ciran needed with a 4-run first inning. Ciran fanned six and walked nobody while improving her record to 14-1.
“Having a few runs at the start of the game, you know you can breathe a little more,” Ciran said. “You have a little margin for error.”
St. Charles North made a couple changes to its lineup Wednesday. Sydney Russell missed another game with her sprained ankle she suffered against Geneva. Coach Tom Poulin said he hopes to have her back next week against St. Charles East.
The North Stars also were without Loren Cihlar (illness). That meant a new top two in the lineup, Natalie Capone and Sabrina Rabin.
Both players singled to start the game against Batavia’s Brooke Nelson (6-1), and Taylor Russell followed by crushing a double to right field for a 2-0 lead. Emily Watts made it 3-0 with an RBI single and Ciran helped herself with a sacrifice fly.
“I was proud of the way we moved people around and didn’t miss a beat,” Poulin said. “Natalie has done a great job filling in the leadoff spot and Sabrina Rabin the freshman with more at-bats is swinging the bat better.”
After managing only an Emily Dorjath single through four innings against Ciran, Batavia’s bats came alive in the fifth. Katie Coleman singled and went to third on Erin Costigan’s double.
Sami Johnson ripped a 2-run double that Watts couldn’t quite grab in deep left.
“She (Ciran) is (intimidating),” said Johnson, who also made a fine diving catch at third. “I try not to let that get to me. I was really nervous but I told myself I going to hit today and thankfully I hit it.”
Lindsay McEachern doubled to lead off the sixth inning but Ciran struck out two of the next three hitters to end the threat. After serving up one of Katie Ryan’s 14 home runs in the first meeting with Batavia, Ciran was pleased to hold the Batavia slugger hitless in 3 at-bats.
“Getting her to hit it on the ground as much as possible was the name of the game today,” Ciran said. “I didn’t want to give up another home run.”
Batavia also was playing short-handed without Katie Neubauer (foot) and Christine Lynam, though the Bulldogs did get Costigan back from injury. Six-foot-2 sophomore Paige Zochert came up and made several good plays on high throws at first base.
“We had a little first-inning jitters, let the pressure get to us at first but once we settled in Brooke pitched a really good game,” Batavia coach Ashley Szymski said. “She was tough the whole time and we had good defense for most of the time.”
Ashley Seering, Russell, Watts and Capone all had 2 hits for St. Charles North who outhit Batavia 9-5.