Softball: Kiel, South Elgin shut down St. Charles North to reach sectional championship game
The South Elgin softball team was ready for action right from the get-go Thursday afternoon at the Class 4A Fremd sectional semifinals against No. 2-seeded St. Charles North.
The No. 5-seeded Storm (29-4) scored two runs against North Stars pitcher Paige Murray in the top of the first inning, and they never looked back as they posted a 5-0 victory to advance to the championship game Friday at 4:30 p.m. against No. 6 St. Charles East.
Sophomore Emma Bell led off with an infield hit before scoring on an RBI double by Jenna Sheehan for a quick 1-0 lead. Loyola University-bound winning pitcher Anna Kiel (16-3, 0.82 ERA) drove in Sheehan with an RBI single to make the score 2-0.
Defending state champion St. Charles North (22-10) could never get its offense going as Kiel fired a 5-hitter without many scoring threats against her throughout the contest.
"This was a bad day not to play your best softball. South Elgin played very very well, and I'm very impressed with them," said St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin, whose team was outhit 8-5.
"We left some opportunities to score some runs out there, but South Elgin was better today in all phases. We love our lineup, we have a ton of experience, and a ton of options and it was just one of those days early on. But they had great approaches at the plate and they kind of played like they had nothing to lose."
Leading 2-0 in the top of the sixth, sophomore Kaidence Rumachik reached base on a one-out single before scoring on a two-out double down the left-field line by senior Amber Gnutek. Then No. 8-hitter Addison Tinerella picked a great time to hit her first varsity home run as she crushed the ball over the center field fence for a 5-0 lead.
"The first two at-bats I rolled over and then I popped up so I was really just trying to keep my hands straight and I just wanted to hit the ball as hard as I could," said Tinerella. "We're definitely hungry for more. This team has such good chemistry we do not want to give up, and we do not want to end this season together. We just want to keep going."
The North Stars did put together a rally in the bottom of the seventh as Faith Maleski walked with one out, Abby Zawadzki singled, and Ella Heimbuch walked with two outs to load the bases. But Kiel buckled down to strike out the last batter of the game as the Storm stormed the field in celebration.
"Thankfully (Tinerella) gave us a little charge and having those extra three runs (in sixth inning) were huge because when you play a team as good as St. Charles North we knew we were going to have to play 21 outs," said South Elgin coach Brad Reynard, whose team is aiming for their first sectional title in school history Friday.
"She (Kiel) has been our everything. She's been on varsity for four years, and she's re-written our record book with the all-time strikeout and hits record for us. We're just excited, and we're going to take this ride as far as we can go."