St. Charles East rallies to win own invitational
St. Charles East played the final game of its annual softball invitational like it had somewhere else to be.
It did - prom - and the dancing will be a little more fun for the Saints after winning the tournament title for the first time that anyone could remember.
St. Charles East rallied for two runs in the last of the sixth to beat Hoffman Estates 2-1, capping a 3-0-1 record to claim the tournament championship.
The Saints (14-5-1) defeated St. Ignatius 3-0 and tied Rockford Harlem 4-4 in its first two games Saturday.
As soon as coach Kelley Barnett finished talking to her team, her seniors ran off the field to get ready for prom.
"Once coach let us leave the girls sprinted out," laughed junior Stephanie Roan, who delivered the key hit in the sixth-inning rally.
"In the past years we have kind of struggled in this tournament and our goal was to definitely win this tournament. We got it done."
After tying Rockford Harlem, the Saints needed at least a tie against Hoffman Estates to win the tournament. A loss and the Hawks (6-13), who went 2-2 in the tournament, could have won.
"Those kids had some will and desire today," Barnett said. "You play three games in a day it can be fatiguing. Will and desire took over. Very good to see."
Hoffman Estates (6-13) took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. Colleen Roberts led off with a triple and scored on Alex Wullbecker's RBI single to right on an 0-2 pitch.
"Overall I was very impressed with (our) hitting," Hoffman Estates coach Lindsey Hamma said. "Overall it was a good day for us."
Kaitlin Walsh, who beat Lyons 4-2 earlier Saturday, held the Saints to 3 hits through 5 innings.
Rebbeca Reinbold singled to start the sixth. After Jenny Niemiec bunted her to second, Roan tied the game with a double to right. Rachael Edwards followed with a hard hit single up the middle that scored Roan.
"Every kid dreams about getting that winning or tying hit," Roan said. "Once one kid gets a hit our team starts to rally, we start getting hits everywhere. That's the type of team we have, we just keep going."
Katelyn Stenger (3-3) left a runner at third in the seventh, ending the game with a grounder to Edwards who made several good plays at third base.
Stengler won two games Saturday and also pitched the final 2 innings in the tie against Rockford Harlem.
"She was phenomenal," Roan said. "Her changeup was ridiculous, amazing. She's a great pitcher, props to her, she did really well today."
Despite the loss, Hamma was pleased with the Hawks' wins over Lyons and St. Ignatius heading into a busy week with five conference games.
"We learned a lot of good things," Hamma said. "Some people had some success at the plate, boosted their confidence so we can carry this into next week. St. Charles persevered and came through with a couple big hits. But we played really strong games against St. Ignatius and Lyons."
Saints junior Brittney Perrotta filled in for catcher RaeAnn Payleitner, who took a foul tip in practice Thursday.
"Just precautionary," Barnett said. "If we had the state championship today she would play. She's good to go."