Softball: Majkszak sparks St. Charles East’s offense early in win over Lincoln-Way Central
Lexi Majkszak could feel the energy for St. Charles East getting an early jump.
After the Saints made two solid defensive plays to kick off the contest Tuesday against Lincoln-Way Central, the senior came to the plate looking to keep the momentum going with a runner on second.
And on the first pitch she saw, she blasted it over the center-field wall for a two-run homer.
“I just saw a good pitch and it was kind of down the middle,” she said. “Whenever I hit a home run I feel like my team’s got my back and they bring the energy.”
Majkszak’s blast ended up being a jolt for the Saints, who went on to secure a 10-0 victory in five innings.
“Lexi’s been hitting the ball so well early on in the season,” Saints coach Jarod Gutesha said. “She’s hitting with confidence and she’s approaching the plate with confidence too. She’s keeping it simple and finding the barrel all day long.”
Majkszak finished the day going 2 for 3 with a team-high three RBI for the Saints (3-0). She added an RBI single in the fourth inning, part of a three-run inning to make it 6-0.
“We’re getting a lot of challenges this week with a bunch of games,” Majkszak said. “I really want to be hitting well for my pitchers so that they know that I’ve got their back. And also doing it in the field. When they’ve got runs on the board, it makes it a lot easier for them to pitch better for us.”
Morgan Beers led the team with three hits, while Hayden Sujack added two hits and two RBI, including the game-ending single to cap off a four-run fifth inning to enact the run rule.
The runs were more than enough for the pitching duo of Makayla Van Dinther and Hannah Wulf. Van Dinther allowed two hits and struck out four in the first three innings, and Wulf followed it up with no hits and five strikeouts in her two innings of work.
“Makayla is just a gamer, she just (plays) like a bulldog and she wants to win,” Gutesha said. “Hannah and her, going from a righty to a lefty or vice versa is going to be tough in the game, and it’s not easy. We just want to keep working on defense and making the routine plays to help those two in the circle that are going to be great against anybody.”
Annelyssia Reina had a double to center field in the second inning and Ellie McLaughlin added a bunt single in the third to make up the only hits for the Knights (1-2).
“They looked to control the batter’s box and we just took a defensive approach up there,” Knights coach Jeff Tarala said. “That’s just a credit to East and the coaching staff. The pitchers did a good job of moving the ball away from some hitters. They hit the ball, put the ball in play and made the plays when we didn’t.”
The 10 runs allowed was the most the Knights have given up in a game since 2024, when they lost 12-2 to Indiana’s Munster. They hadn’t given up 10 runs to an in-state opponent since 2022 in a 10-7 loss to Lockport.
“Right now we’re throwing a lot of pieces out there and we’re just trying to find the combinations that work,” Tarala said. “In the past two years, we’ve graduated almost all of our lineup, so there’s going to be some growing pains with that and we’re going to figure it out. It wasn’t our best day, but we’re going to look to grow from it, improve and be more competitive in the future."