Waubonsie Valley snaps skid at St. Charles E.
It was hard to tell who needed a win more Thursday at St. Charles East — Waubonsie Valley’s tough-luck starter Mitch Stefani, or the Warriors themselves riding a 3-game losing streak.
Thanks to Stefani’s complete game gem, both he and Warriors got that elusive victory 3-1 over the Saints and their own hard-luck pitcher Nick Huskisson.
“Mitch Stefani, what can I say,” Waubonsie Valley coach Dan Fezzuoglio said. “We finally cut down mental mistakes and played defense and it’s a credit to the kids for sticking at it. Mitch really pitched like a true lead.”
Waubonsie Valley (4-7, 1-4 in the Upstate Eight Conference) had not been playing well. Its recent stretch of three straight losses to Streamwood, Batavia and Larkin included an 11-1 loss to the Bulldogs.
“Scuffling is the right word,” Fezzuoglio said. “This is a tough place to play. Over the years we’ve had many competitive games against (Saints) coach (Len) Asquini, against coach (Mark) Foulkes. Lots of tight games and it’s nice to get one on the board.”
St. Charles East (5-5, 3-2) hit into a pair of double plays in the first and third innings to help Stefani escape early trouble. Shortstop C.J. Lee and second baseman Austin Dixon both made nice turns on the twin-killings.
That contrasted some defensive woes earlier this week.
“We weren’t focused for that (Batavia) game and it caused us a lot of problems,” Stefani said. “The infield was amazing and really helped me out on the mound.”
Stefani (1-3) made life difficult for the Saints hitters by often throwing his curve for a first-pitch strike. He allowed 5 hits and 1 walk while striking out five and needing just 86 pitches to finish the game.
“All three pitches were pretty good,” Stefani said. “They were really out in front of the changeup, the curve ball had good break to it, the fastball hit some spots, and I let the defense handle the work.”
The Saints scratched out their only run in the fifth. Anthony Sciarrino beat out an infield hit, moved to second on Isaac Nimick’s bunt, took third on Nick Erickson’s groundout and alertly scampered home with a quick jump a wild pitch that didn’t get that far away from Warriors catcher Tyler Josupait.
“Anthony, he has good instincts and boom he saw a ball scooting away and he was gone,” Asquini said. “That was big for us. Unfortunately the momentum was never there and we never had a chance to capitalize on that.”
The Warriors scored single runs in the second, fifth and sixth. Lee drove in the first with a triple in the second that landed just in front of diving right fielder Troy DeFilippis.
The Saints’ only two errors put Lee at third in the fifth, and Stefani helped himself with a sacrifice fly. The Warriors scored their final run in the sixth without a hit as James Palasz walked and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
“If we get baserunners we want to be as aggressive as we can,” said Fezzuoglio whose team stole 4 bases. “It’s all those little things that add up especially with the way this season is going with these bats until we get adjusted. A great team win we desperately needed.”
Huskisson pitched the first 6 innings allowing 5 walks and 2 hits. He struck out four before Matt Starai made his first appearance since an injury a little over two weeks ago and worked a 1-2-3 seventh.
“Nick threw well, we played pretty good defense, we just didn’t hit,” Asquini said of Huskisson who is now 0-2 after also losing 3-2 to Prairie Ridge. “Do you accent your offense is the problem or give some credit to the kid on the mound and the kid on the mound was pretty dang good. He really kind of handcuffed us. Hats off to him.”
The Saints also had a couple strong defensive plays including a barehanded charge by third baseman Nimick to get a runner at first and Joe Hoscheit’s diving catch in left.
Erickson and Sciarrino both had 2 hits for St. Charles East who will send Kyle Manske to the mound Friday at Bartlett.