St. Charles North trips up St. Charles E. again
It might not always be pretty, and it certainly will come with a few anxious moments, but red-hot St. Charles North continues to find a way to win just about every softball game it plays.
After edging St. Charles East in 13 innings last week, the North Stars needed 8 innings on Wednesday for a 7-6 win in the semifinals of the Class 4A St. Charles North regional.
No. 10 seed St. Charles North (23-12) advances to the regional championship game at 11 a.m. Saturday against No. 1 Glenbard North who defeated the North Stars 11-1 earlier this year.
The North Stars have improved as much as anyone, now with 8 straight wins and 13 in their last 14. Three of those wins have come against St. Charles East, and each one has included plenty of drama.
Wednesday was certainly no exception with the Saints erasing a 6-2 deficit to tie the game at 6 and having a chance to complete the comeback in the bottom of the seventh.
“It’s been three memorable games and thank goodness we came out on top because very easily it could have been the other way,” North Stars coach Tom Poulin said. “One little change and St. Charles East is celebrating today. It’s that close.”
Senior catcher Casey Basic gave St. Charles East (20-15) something to celebrate early, a 2-run home run to center field that scored Tess Hupe who had walked.
“We had no pressure whatsoever,” Basic said. “All the pressure was on the other side of the river. I went up there thinking nothing and I hit it.”
That blast was just part of a terrific individual effort by Basic who went 3-for-4 with the homer and 3 RBI. She also threw out two would-be base stealers — including speed demon Sabrina Rabin in the first — and tagged out Rabin later in the game on a bang-bang play at the plate.
“Put the team on her shoulders didn’t she?” Saints coach Kelly Horan said. “I couldn’t be more proud of that kid. She’ll be missed. Those are tough shoes to fill no doubt.”
The Saints held that 2-0 lead into the third inning when their defense let them down. The North Stars sent 10 batters to the plate and scored 6 runs.
Mickey Goetz and Abby Howlett both delivered RBI singles during the inning, but four Saints errors really fueled the rally. St. Charles East’s right fielder and second baseman also collided and dropped a short flyball.
The North Stars made their own mistake in the bottom of the third, a two-out error that scored one run and kept the inning alive for freshman Alex Latoria who dropped a 2-run single into short center to bring the Saints within 6-5.
St. Charles East tied the game 6-6 in the fourth on a double by Lexi Perez and a two-out RBI single from Basic.
That’s where the game stayed until the eighth. Both teams removed their starting pitchers, with Shannon Caliri and Haley Beno ending up as the pitchers of record in relief of Rabin and Shannon Pedersen, respectively.
Both relief pitchers stranded the potential game-winning run in scoring position in the seventh inning.
The Saints defense again broke down in the eighth. After Caliri led off with an infield single, a dropped throw on Rabin’s sacrifice bunt put runners at second and third with no outs, and freshman Kaitlyn Waslawski plated the winning run with a groundout to short.
Pedersen gave the Saints a chance in the bottom of the eighth with a two-out double before Caliri retired pinch-hitter Shelby Palomares on a grounder to second to end the game.
Caliri improved to 10-7 by tossing four scoreless innings of relief.
“I just wanted to stay calm and put the pitches where I’m supposed to,” Caliri said. “Count on my defense really. It was a little bit of pressure but you can’t focus on the score and just get the job done in the circle.”
Horan held Pedersen out of the two regular-season meetings with the North Stars to give them a different look in the playoffs.
While Pedersen didn’t make it out of the third inning, she also didn’t get any help from her defense.
“Shannon was pitching very well,” Basic said. “It was our defense that didn’t back her up. Our defense kind of ruined Shannon’s game today.”
Horan certainly echoed that sentiment after watching her team make 8 errors.
“Losing is one thing but playing terrible and losing is another thing,” Horan said. “I’m just sad we played bad. There’s not much more to it. We hit the ball well and just blew it on defense.”
Goetz led the North Stars with 3 hits while Rabin, Howlett and Sara Hausl all had 2 for a team on a roll with recent wins over Trinity, Normal West and Lincoln-Way North and nothing to lose in its matchup with Glenbard North.
“Best team in state, best team we’ve seen,” Poulin said. “It will take our best game. We need things to fall our way.”