St. Charles E. outscores Batavia
St. Charles East came alive for 15 hits and 9 runs Wednesday to build a commanding 9-3 lead in the sixth inning over Batavia — then held its breath as the Bulldogs nearly came all the way back.
Saints starter Shannon Pedersen retired Meghan Fabian on a soft liner to shortstop Lexi Perez in the seventh inning to strand the tying run at second base and give the Saints a 9-8 win.
“A little too close for my comfort,” smiled Saints coach Kelly Horan after Batavia (11-12, 3-8 in the Upstate Eight Conference) scored twice in the sixth and three times in the seventh to almost catch the Saints (11-9, 5-6).
Pedersen improved to 7-3 pitching a complete game and scattering 10 hits and 4 walks. The first three runs she allowed were all unearned.
“Having Shannon finish the game will give her great confidence when it's a 1-0 game,” Horan said. “She buckled down and did her job when she needed to.”
Batavia first baseman Paige Zochert started another big day with an RBI double to give Batavia a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
The Saints quickly answered against Katie Coleman (4-7) in the bottom of the inning. Perez had the first of her 4 hits and 4 steals to start the rally, then used her lightning speed to score on a sacrifice fly that Batavia second baseman Erin Costigan caught about 15 feet behind first base.
St. Charles East went up 3-1 on the first of Olivia Lorenzini's two extra-base hits, a 2-run double to deep center that scored Kate Peterburs and Sarah Collalti.
The Saints extended their lead to 5-1 in the second on RBI singles from Tess Hupe and Casey Basic.
After Katie Ryan ripped a 2-run pinch-hit triple to bring Batavia within 5-3 in the fourth, the Saints scored four times in their half.
Perez again started the rally with a single and stole two more bases. Basic and Peterburs delivered run-scoring hits before Lorenzini took Coleman the opposite way for her first home run of the season.
“I'm really not known for my home runs,” Lorenzini said. “I just went up there like it was another at-bat. I was looking for a double, just looking to get on.”
Lorenzini, Peterburs and Jess Richter all had 2 hits for the Saints while Perez went 4-for-4 and scored three times.
That offensive output was quite a contrast from the previous day when Elgin's Hannah Perryman beat the Saints 3-1.
“Yesterday Perryman has amazing movement, probably one of the best moving pitchers I've seen,” Lorenzini said. “Today we knew Coleman is a strong pitcher but we knew we could hit a lot better. When we come to play we really come to play.”
Hupe led the Saints defensively in center field throwing out Batavia's Sami Villarreal at the plate.
“I thought the kids defensively really set the tone for us,” Horan said. “I thought we really played great defense, and we had some confident at-bats.”
Batavia began its comeback with a home run from Zochert and Villarreal's bases-loaded walk in the sixth.
In the seventh Ryan drove in a run with a single and catcher Karina Danielson found the left-field gap for a 2-run double to bring Batavia within 9-8.
“Nice to see Danielson come up with a big hit,” Batavia coach Ashley Szymski said. “She needs some confidence at the plate.”
Zochert and Ryan both had 2 hits for Batavia and combined to drive in 5 runs.
“You can't start off slow and expect to come back and beat a team,” Szymski said. “But I did like the fire at the end of the game.”
Batavia started the game without two of its middle-of-the-order hitters, Ryan and Katie Neubauer. Ryan missed batting practice but entered the game in the fourth as a pinch-hitter and played the rest of the game.
“Neubauer missed a couple games, team rule is you miss games you have to sit games,” Szymski said. “She did her time. She'll be back.”