Softball: St. Charles (East) still posing problems for Schaumburg

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This time, it was St. Charles East.

Over the past two seasons, Schaumburg has been perfect on the softball diamond except when playing teams from St. Charles.

The Saxons' only two losses during a memorable 2015 season (31-2) were to St. Charles North.

On Tuesday, it was St. Charles East handing Schaumburg a 6-3 setback in both teams' season openers.

Senior Jordan Hall, a Minnesota State University Moorhead recruit, escaped bases-loaded jams in the third and fifth innings and fired a 5-hitter with 4 strikeouts.

Two of strikeouts were the first two outs of the bottom of the seventh after Paige Alt led off with a home run followed by 2 walks.

Catcher Rylee Stout then threw out a runner at third base with Megan Daly making the game-ending tag.

"Jordan is definitely a battler, a gamer," said first-year Saints coach Jarod Gutesha. "She put herself in a tough position that last inning and worked her way out of it."

Hall worked with a quick 2-0 lead, thanks to junior Delaney Devor's 2-run single to right field which scored Maddie Candre and Katie Kolb, who had reached on an error.

"It helps when you get a lead like that because it means your team is already working well together to score runs," Hall said. "And when we get a lead, we play better."

The Saints never lost the lead.

Schaumburg came to within 2-1 when Michelle Birkholz led off the bottom of the second with a homer over the center field fence.

The Saints answered right back in the top of third when Candre doubled and eventually scored on Stout's sacrifice fly to right.

The lead was extended to 5-1 in the top off the fourth when Hall led off the with a homer to center.

Kolb, who went 2-for-3. added a RBI single with two outs for a 5-1 lead.

The visitors went ahead 6-1 in the sixth on freshman Paige Ligocki's sacrifice fly to right.

Schaumburg made it 6-2 in the bottom of the inning on an RBI groundout by Birkholz.

Natalie Napier followed with her second walk to load the bases again but Hall avoided further damage with a strikeout.

"The key was just trying to throw them off with different pitches, a change-up and others," Hall said. "It's really nice to get this win because this was a tough matchup. They won their conference (Mid-Suburban League) championship last year. I really had to focus because they have good hitters."

Alt went 2-for-3 for the Saxons, who belted a state record 66 homers last spring.

"We know there are things we have to work on," said Saxons coach Ellen Stoddard, whose sophomore leadoff batter Caitlin Poplar walked her first three times up. "I thought our overall approach at the plate was good. We had a lot of runners on base. We just have to find a way to get them home."

The Saxons won't be home again until April 6. They face St. Charles North next week.

With 2 hits apiece, Hall and Kolb led the Saints' attack.

"It was definitely nice to come here, do some things right and get our first win under the belt," Gutesha said. "It's nice to see the girls execute the things we have been working on the last three and half weeks."

Gutesha's first win as a head varsity coach comes after serving as an assistant in the program the last seven years. He was also an assistant baseball coach at St. Charles East, including the year in which the Saints finished fourth in the Class AA state (2004) with catcher Max Payleitner.

Payleitner is now Gutesha's assistant.

"This was a simple transition because I've been in the program so long," Gutesha said of taking the top spot. "And Max has been great. It's wonderful to have him around."