St. Charles East rolls at West Aurora
Lexi Perez is speaking up this spring, and her St. Charles East teammates are listening to what their shortstop and leadoff hitter has to say.
A third-year varsity player, Perez is enjoying her leadership role for the Saints who improved to 4-2 with a 9-1 win at West Aurora (0-6) on Friday.
“I watched all the girls from my freshman year, wow those juniors and seniors really communicated well,” Perez said. “They really told me what to do. So I wanted to be just like that for all the other girls. I thought if I could do that then maybe they will follow in my footsteps.”
Perez isn’t just leading with her words — her actions are plenty good. Her flawless defensive play on five chances helped keep West Aurora’s rallies at a minimum while she sparked the offense going 3-for-4 with 3 runs and 2 RBI.
“As a leadoff hitter I know I have to get on and anyway I can I’m going to get on,” Perez said. “I read the defense, see what is out there and try to execute.”
St. Charles East softball coach Kelly Horan is pleased with the way her entire team has executed heading into its first Upstate Eight Conference crossover game at Neuqua Valley next week.
“Spring break is all about getting innings and taking stock of what we have,” Horan said. “It’s to find out what we need to work on and we did that. For the last game of our preseason, I’m really pleased.”
Shannon Pedersen pitched a complete game allowing 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out three. She retired the final 9 batters she faced and 14 of the final 15 in her second straight strong outing following a win over West Chicago.
“I was going outside, sticking to my curve. I threw my change-up a couple times to keep them off-balance,” said Pedersen who like her coach is pleased with the Saints’ play thus far.
“I’m very happy with how we are looking. Our defense has been pretty solid. We’ve started to hit the ball really well. We’re seeing the ball well.”
West Aurora struck first Friday. After sophomore starter Kaylee Hayton stranded runners at second and third in the top of the inning, Molly Jordan put the Blackhawks ahead 1-0 with a single to score LaRi Mitchell who had reached on the first of her two bunt singles.
The Saints took the lead 2-1 in the third when Casey Basic ripped a 2-out, 2-run double to the gap in left center that scored Rhiannon Ohnstad and Perez.
West Aurora tried to answer right back in its half of the third but Pedersen fanned the Blackhawks’ No. 4 and 5 hitters to leave runners at the corners.
“We had opportunities early on,” said West Aurora coach Sara Nagy who was pleased with her team’s first error-free game this year. “We couldn’t capitalize on getting those runners in. I think that would have changed the momentum for us. Consistency is our issue.”
The Saints added to their lead in the next three innings scoring three times in the fourth, once in the fifth and three more in the sixth.
Shelby Palomares started the fourth with a double, and Perez delivered the clutch hit with two outs when she singled up the middle to score two runs. Sarah Collalti followed with another sharp single to score Perez.
West Aurora made a pitching change in the sixth and the Saints took advantage of three walks and a hit batter. Pinch-hitter Kate Peterburs had the only hit of the inning, a 2-run single.
All told the Saints had 11 hits with Basic and Tess Hupe adding two each. Horan also got several of her reserves at-bats in the final two innings.
“All-around pretty happy,” Horan said. “We’re rounding into shape. We got better from a week ago to today.”