Rabin, St. Charles North blank Elgin
St. Charles North softball coach Tom Poulin was going to give senior left fielder Courtney Smith the day off Tuesday.
But when junior Kailee Dressel fell ill, Poulin put Smith back in the North Stars’ lineup.
Funny how things happen sometimes.
Smith’s leadoff double in the top of the sixth inning sparked a 3-run SCN rally, and sophomore standout Sabrina Rabin and the North Stars’ defense did the rest in a 3-0 Upstate Eight River win at Elgin.
The win inches the North Stars (15-11, 11-3) closer to their third straight conference title. They now hold a 3-game lead over Elgin (16-10, 9-6) and St. Charles East (8-6) in the loss column in the 19-game conference season. St. Charles North and East still have two games against each other to play.
“We were going to give (Smith) a day off today,” said Poulin “But (Dressel) got sick just before the game so we put Courtney back in there. She’s a tough hitter up there.”
And, Smith is the North Stars’ No. 9 hitter, a place Poulin likes her because the left-handed speedster is essentially another leadoff hitter.
“Courtney fills that role for us,” said Poulin. “I like her in the No. 9. If she gets on, she has wheels and we can make people make plays.”
Smith said she was just looking for her pitch on 3-2, and the one she got she didn’t really like that much.
“I was just trying to foul it off. I really didn’t like it that much,” she said. “At No. 9 you just want to start things off again and get on base.”
Rabin followed Smith’s double by slicing a triple to the left field corner, scoring Smith with the only run the North Stars would need. But SCN added two insurance runs that gave Rabin some room to work on Elgin’s final two at-bats.
With one out, Mickey Goetz laid down a perfect squeeze bunt that scored Rabin. And when Elgin failed to cover both first and second base, Goetz ended up with the infamous “bunt home run”, going from first to second when she saw the Maroons not covering, then scampering home when an errant Elgin throw to second ended up at the center field fence.
“Mickey getting that bunt down was huge,” Poulin said.
Elgin, which learned Tuesday it is the No. 6 seed in the upcoming Class 4A Barrington sectional, could muster little in the way of offense, wasting another stellar performance from senior Hannah Perryman (14-7), who struck out 16 and didn’t walk a batter. Perryman now has 284 strikeouts this season, fast approaching Elizabeth Waller’s 1996 school record of 322.
“I wasn’t real happy with out approach at the plate today,” said Poulin, whose team drew the No. 10 seed in the Lake Park sectional but will host a regional. “But about midway through the game I just had to step back and say, ‘Hey, it’s Hannah Perryman and she’s that good.’ We were able to string a couple hits together.”
Which is what the Maroons couldn’t do against Rabin, who struck out 8, walked 1 and allowed just 3 hits. Two of those, including a double, came from junior first baseman Monica Stockman, who went down with a knee injury when she got caught in a rundown between second and third after doubling in the fourth inning.
“She hits in the 2-hole for us, she bunts well and she’s hitting over .300,” said Elgin coach Chad Dahlman of Stockman. “Hopefully it’s not as bad as it looks. We’ll just have to see.”
Dahlman was equally concerned about his team’s defense letting down in the sixth inning.
“They strung a couple hits together and Rabin kept us off balance but we didn’t make the plays,” said Dahlman, whose team will host Larkin for Elgin’s Senior Night Thursday at 7 p.m. at Judson University. “It’s stuff we work on every day in practice. We had a brain lapse that you just can’t have.
“Hannah is throwing unbelievable. Her record might not show it but her ERA and hit allowed does. She’s our workhorse and she’s it the rest of the way.”