Rabin, St. Charles North hold off Bartlett

Pitching out of jam after jam, St. Charles North ace Sabrina Rabin was able to help her North Stars squad hang on at Bartlett in an Upstate Eight Conference crossover softball game on Wednesday.

With two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the seventh and the North Stars leading 3-0, Rabin issued her only walk of the game to Dana Paul and Kayla Haberstich followed with her fourth hit of the day, an RBI double to the center field fence.

An RBI single by Alex Morales and a single from Holly Pagan put the tying run in scoring position and the winning run on, but Rabin induced a groundout to earn a 3-2 win. That out did draw an argument from Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith as North (6-4, 2-2) first baseman Abby Howlett had to stretch for a throw from third baseman Erin Nemetz, but the call stood.

"This is a great win," said North Stars' coach Tom Poulin. "Bartlett's as good as it gets in the conference, and it's been a while since we've beat them on their field."

The Hawks (9-3, 3-1) tallied 9 hits in the game and were retired in order only once, but Rabin came through under pressure.

Bartlett stranded 10 runners in the game, half of which were in scoring position, and Rabin pitched out of her first jam in the first inning. Paul and Haberstich had back-to-back singles with one out when Rabin got 2 of her 5 strikeouts.

"I was ok with the pressure," Rabin said. "I know that my defense is there to back me up, and I just had to focus on making my pitches."

In comparison, the North Stars had just 4 hits off Pagan as she went the distance striking out 7 and walking 3. North scored all of its runs in the third with some help from 2 Bartlett errors.

"Holly pitched a great game," Wolfsmith said. "She pitched a dominant game. Unfortunately we had one rough inning when we didn't back her up, and in my estimation all three runs were unearned."

Andrea Beal led off the top of the third by reaching on an error and then stole second, and Rabin followed with a hard shot liner to left field for an RBI single. That ball did get past the Bartlett left fielder for a two-base error putting Rabin at third base.

Kaitlyn Waslawski drove Rabin in on a bunt single and she stole second. Waslawski advanced to third on a Mickey Goetz fielder's choice for the first out of the frame, and a Howlett fielder's choice brought Waslawski in for the third run.

"Against a tough pitcher like (Pagan), you've got to take advantage of your opportunities," Poulin said. "We did that in the third."