Fox softball notes: St. Charles North's road to a repeat goes through home field

The IHSA will release pairings for the Class 3A and 4A softball postseason later this week, but with seeds now established one thing is clear, and that is if defending 4A state champion St. Charles North can avoid a regional upset, the North Stars won't have to leave home on their quest for another appearance in the state finals.

SCN (16-2), which currently holds a 2-game lead in the DuKane Conference race, will host a 4A sectional and supersectional.

The North Stars are the No. 1 seed in the 17-team sectional complex, followed by Lake Park, South Elgin and Fremd. Lake Park, South Elgin, No. 6 seed Conant and No. 10 Glenbard West are the regional hosts, with postseason play beginning the week of May 22.

How tough does the SCN sectional appear to be? No. 7 seed Bartlett is 19-4, and the top nine seeds all currently have winning records. Throw in No. 10 Glenbard West (11-12) as well as No. 12 Schaumburg, No. 13 Elk Grove and No. 14 Rolling Meadows from the tough Mid-Suburban League and it's easy to see there won't be any easy wins.

The SCN sectional winner takes on the Whitney Young sectional winner in the SCN super. Chicago Lane is the top seed at Young.

The other 4A sectional with Fox area teams will be hosted by Rockton Hononegah. Barrington (23-4) and Huntley (20-6), both regional hosts, are the top two seeds in sub-sectional A. Hampshire (8-11), a regional host, is the No. 4 seed in sub-sectional B.

The Hononegah sectional champ advances to the Barrington supersectional to play the Warren sectional winner. Buffalo Grove is the No. 1 seed at Warren.

Class 3A:

Kaneland hosts a supersectional in Class 3A that will feature the Belvidere North sectional winner vs. the winner from a sectional host that's still to be determined.

Crystal Lake South (10-13, No. 6 seed) and Burlington Central (8-17, No. 7) are regional hosts of sub-sectional A, where Harvard (9-8) is the No. 1 seed and Kaneland (9-13) is No. 4. Sterling (19-6) is the No. 1 seed in sub-sectional B.

Cary-Grove is a regional host of the TBA sectional, where Antioch (21-1) is the clear top seed, when seeds are released.

Class 1A/2A:

No. 10 seed Harvest Christian (1-8) opens Class 1A regional play on Monday at No. 6 Pecatonica (2-20), while in Class 2A, No. 7 St. Edward (5-12) plays host to No. 8 Rosary (5-14) at the Elgin Sports Complex in a regional opener on Monday as a part of the Johnsburg regional. On Wednesday, No. 3 Aurora Central Catholic (16-9) faces No. 6 Johnsburg (6-11), with the St. Edward-Rosary winner taking on No. 2 Sandwich (12-11) on Tuesday.

Recent highlights:

South Elgin's Cece Bell fired a no hitter vs. West Chicago and a perfect game vs. Fenton as the Storm (17-4-1, 12-1) maintained a one-game lead over Bartlett in the Upstate Eight. The Storm got a complete game on the mound from Anna Kiel in a 21-6 win over Bartlett at Rosemont Stadium. She also went 4-for-5 at the plate with 3 doubles, a home run and 4 RBI.

"It was a great experience playing our rivals at such a cool venue," said Storm coach Brad Reynard.

•St. Charles North split its DuKane Conference series with Wheaton North, leaving the North Stars (16-2, 9-1) 2 games ahead of the Falcons, St. Charles East and Lake Park.

Julia Larson (.509, 8 doubles, 19 RBI, 18 RS, 11 SBs), Leigh VandeHei (.500, 3 triples, 23 RS, 19 SBs) and Sophia Olman (.471, 4 HRs, 27 RBI, 14 RS) have had hot bats for SCN.

•Burlington Central (8-17) earned wins over Jacobs and Crystal Lake South recently. Hannah Rindner hit a walk off single to win the game over Jacobs.

"We have had great pitching by both Emily Rafftery and Allie Botkin," said BC coach Lauren King, who also noted that Makayla McEwen has 3 home runs this season.

"The girls are coming along and it has been really fun to watch them play. I am so proud of these girls. They work hard every day and that time and effort is starting to show. We have made great defensive and offensive plays and continue to see great things happening. I know that this team can do great things and it has been a joy to watch them play and grow in their skills this season."

Be You. A Softball Experience:

Former Kaneland and UM-Kansas City star Jessica Davis will be hosting her Be You: A Softball Experience camp June 12-15 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. each day at 435 Airport Road in Sycamore.

The camp, for ages 8-13, is $375 with $100 pitcher or catcher add on.

This is the third annual summer camp hosted by Jessica Davis Pitching. This camp aims to bring a unique softball summer camp experience to campers. With a talented all-female coaching staff, campers are given many opportunities to work one-on-one with coaches, breakout sessions with small group chats about important softball topics like building a strong mental game or preparing yourself for high school softball, etc.

Coaches confirmed to work the camp include Morgan Newport (Northwestern), Rose Roach (Auburn), Hailey Roach (Youngstown State), Delaney Ostrowski (NIU), Mia Richards (Kishwaukee College, Haley Trela (Kishwaukee College), Emilee Erickson (St. Ambrose), Megan Leadbetter (Yorkville HS assistant coach) and Jessica Davis (UMKC).

The website to register is https://jessicadavispitching.as.me/. Registration ends 5/29.