St. Charles North 5, St. Charles East 2

Timely hitting, last at-bat heroics, extra innings.

Must be a typical St. Charles East-St. Charles North softball game.

So what if the North Stars came in with a 10-2 record to the Saints' 7-6. Chances are the outcome will be riding on the final pitch.

Down to its last out in the bottom of the seventh, the Saints' Victoria Perez kept the game alive with a 2-run double to tie the game 2-2.

Then with two outs and nobody on in the North Stars' half of the eighth, St. Charles North strung together three straight hits on its way to a 5-2 victory.

Christina Barrutia delivered the big blow in the eighth inning, a two-out, 2-run line-drive single to right field that broke the 2-2 tie.

"I've been in a slump lately. Thank God I got a good hit," said Barrutia, who came off the bench for Kristin Damm after Damm also had a big hit that drove in the North Stars' first run.

"I approached it calmly," Barrutia continued. "Whether starting or coming off the bench, I have to keep my nerves down."

The North Stars (11-2, 5-2) moved a game ahead of the Saints (7-7, 4-3) in the Upstate Eight. St. Charles North's only two losses are to powers Lake Park and Bartlett -- a pleasant turn of events for North Stars coach April Stary after a 14-19 record in 2007.

"I thought we'd have this record (11-2) for last year's team and that record for this year's team," Stary said. "It's surprising. They are a young team but they are seasoned players. (An) 11-2 (record), I love it."

It looked like St. Charles North had that 11th win in the seventh thanks to the pitching combination of Christine Truesdell and Amanda Ciran.

Truesdell shut the Saints out for the first four innings. She had a no-hitter through three innings until Rachael Edwards smacked a two-out single in the fourth.

Ciran entered in the fifth. The Saints put a pair of runners on in both the fifth and sixth innings but couldn't dent the scoreboard.

"We had runners on base, we just couldn't get that one hit," St. Charles East coach Eric Ray said.

The Saints finally got that hit in their last chance. Mary Kate Brooks' single and an error put two on with two outs.

Perez lifted a ball down the left-field line that landed just fair in front of the North Stars' left fielder and just behind their third baseman and shortstop.

"I thought it was going to be a foul ball," Perez said.

Perez (3-6) also pitched a strong game, allowing just single runs in the second and third innings until St. Charles North's 3-run eighth. She struck out four and walked one.

"It's disappointing but I did everything I could do," Perez said. "Every game I see improvement (in our team)."

"Victoria did a nice job," St. Charles East coach Eric Ray said. "She throws strikes and makes batters hit the ball."

Ray was disappointed in his team's defense early in the game that contributed to the North Stars taking a 2-0 lead.

"North is a good team," Ray said. "They have a good amount of offense. For three innings we played bad ball. St. Charles North made routine plays -- that was the difference in the ballgame."

Christine Roggemann and Brooke Jaeger singled in the eighth to set up Barrutia's game-winning hit -- the latest in a string of hard-fought games for the North Stars.

"I come home with migraines," Stary joked about all the close games.

"When it comes down to business, when they have to do something, they do it," Stary said.