St. Charles North goes overtime for first title

For the second straight time at the Schaumburg Class 4A sectional, the St. Charles North softball team had to work overtime.

Extra work, though, is nothing new for these North Stars.

“These girls deserve all the credit in the world for the hard work they do in the off-season,” said coach Tom Poulin. “With all the individual training they do, they deserve to be champions.”

And they are — sectional softball champions for the first time in school history.

Two days after a 10-inning, 3-2 win over No. 6 Leyden in the sectional semifinal, the No. 2 North Stars labored eight innings in the sizzling heat on Saturday and pulled out a 3-1 triumph over top-seeded Elk Grove.

The North Stars (30-3) will play in the DeKalb supersectional at Northern Illinois University at 6:15 p.m. Monday. They’ll play the hometown Barbs (31-4), who beat Cary-Grove 3-0 in the Rockford Guilford sectional final.

“To beat someone like Dani Goranson (Grenadiers’ junior ace who is 29-5) and a program like Elk Grove just tells you what our kids have,” Poulin said. “Doing it in extra innings just makes it a little extra special because the pressure was mounting.”

And that’s when the North Stars thrive.

“I live for extra innings,” said North Stars senior ace Amanda Ciran (22-1), who tossed a 5-hitter with 5 strikeouts. “I love the pressure.”

Evidently, so did cleanup batter Ashley Seering in the top of the eighth inning.

With runners on second and third and two outs, Seering lined a single to left to score Sabrina Rabin and Taylor Russell for the 3-1 lead.

The winning rally started when Rabin led off with a pinch-hit bunt single and was sacrificed to second by Sydney Russell.

After Grens shortstop Krista Soesbe caught a popup for the second out, Taylor Russell was intentionally walked.

Taylor Russell had hit her seventh homer of the season to tie the game at 1-1 with one out in the fourth inning.

“That homer by Taylor just told us that this was our game,” said Seering, the only player in the game with 2 hits. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but we knew after that big hit, we could come through. Taylor got us going.”

Taylor Russell and Rabin each moved up a base when an illegal pitch was called during Seering’s game-winning at-bat.

Then with two strikes and two outs, Seering delivered her game-winning hit.

“I just told myself I had new life at the plate (after getting a ball on the illegal pitch),” Seering said. “With the two strikes, I had to choke up on the bat and protect the plate.”

Protecting a 2-run cushion, Ciran retired the Grens in order in the bottom of the eighth, giving the North Stars their first sectional title since they began playing the sport in the spring of 2001.

“This is making history,” said Ciran, who has been pitching since she was 8 years old and began taking lessons at 12. “This was one of our goals.”

Ciran got out of a few jams. The only run she gave up was in the bottom of the third when sophomore left fielder Elisa Payne led off with a single and came home on catcher Devan Parkison’s single to left with one out.

“The key to the game for me was my changeup on 3-2 counts,” Ciran said. “I used it in that situation about eight times.”

Elk Grove threatened a few times late in the game.

In the fifth, Payne (1-for-2) was hit by a pitch and Tori Liewergen singled to left to give the Grens runners on first and second with no outs.

Ciran got a strikeout and pop out to shortstop Natalie Capone before hitting Goranson to load the bases.

But a ground ball then hit an Elk Grove baserunner for interference and the inning ended.

In the seventh, Elk Grove lined out sharply to third baseman Taylor Russell and Ciran for the first two outs.

Jessica Balzano then singled to right before Parkison flew out sharply to right.

“I told the girls the game of softball is so fragile,” said Elk Grove coach Ken Grams. “That’s just the sport. We hit three shots that inning and had Jessica’s single in-between. They made nice plays on those. If any are a half-foot away from the defender one way or another, that could be a run for us.

“We had opportunities. I can’t complain. We had some chances early and didn’t cash in.”

Goranson struck out seven while giving up 8 hits to the powerful North Stars lineup. She will return next season for Grams along with six other starters.

Graduating are seniors Balzano, Katie Keegan, Kristen Cetkovic and Emily Jarosz.

Balzano’s last at-bat of a stellar four-year career was the base hit in the seventh inning. It was an appropriate way for the Loyola recruit to go out as she set a school record with a 42-game hitting streak between her junior and senior seasons.

“We just couldn’t drive in the runs,” Balzano said. “But we did all we could. We faced two great pitchers in this sectional. I’ll remember all the fun we had bonding as a team the past four years.”

“The kids had a great season,” Grams said. “They did very well. This was a game between two very good teams. Someone had to score more runs. I would like to think we’ll be fine next season with another year of experience for all of these girls.”

St. Charles North will experience its first supersectional on Monday after playing 18 innings of softball in three days.

“That just speaks to the strength of this sectional,” Poulin said. “Any one of the four teams could be here now. It shows how strong the sectional was.”