St. Charles East rallies by Geneva
Shannon Pedersen kept her sizzling streak alive.
The Saints senior, who had been in a slump at the plate earlier this season, continued to break out of that in a big way homering in her third straight game and the fourth time in five games in the Saints’ 8-5 win over Geneva Tuesday in St. Charles.
If that wasn’t enough Pedersen also earned the win for St. Charles East (17-9, 8-6). The Saints trailed Geneva (11-15, 4-12) 5-4 before scoring twice in the fifth and twice in the sixth for the come-from-behind win.
Pedersen went 3-for-3 with 5 RBI and also doubled and walked while improving to 10-3 with the relief win.
“She was struggling,” Saints coach Kelly Horan said. “I dropped her in the lineup. She worked hard on her swing, and now she’s seeing the ball really well. She works hard.”
The game started with the teams trading near identical innings. Both teams had one batter reach in the first when the No. 3 hitters on each team — Geneva’s Anna Geary and St. Charles East’s Casey Basic — dropped two-out singles.
Missing one of his regulars, Geneva coach Greg Dierks moved Geary from the leadoff spot and center field to the No. 3 hole and shortstop as his freshman continues to shine.
“Down the road she certainly is capable of that,” Dierks said of Geary hitting third. “She is tied for our lead in extra-base hits. She’s a gap-to-gap line-drive hitter. She would be fine in that spot.”
The following inning both teams got on the scoreboard via the long ball. The only difference was there was one more runner on base when Pedersen blasted a 3-run home run that Geneva center fielder Bridget Weitzel nearly robbed and brought back.
Pedersen’s homer, which scored Kate Peterburs and Sarah Collalti who had both singled, gave the Saints a 3-2 lead and answered the 2-run home run Geneva’s Kelly Gordon nailed in the top of the second to score Amanda Ebert.
The Saints took a 4-2 lead in the third when Peterburs led off with a single, took second on a wild pitch and scored when Geneva threw wild to first on Collalti’s infield hit.
Geneva regained the lead in the fifth capitalizing on a pair of Saints errors. Nicole White had Geneva’s one hit in the inning as the Vikings chased starter Haley Beno.
Against Pedersen, Gordon ripped a two-out triple in the fifth but the Vikings couldn’t plate a run in the final three innings.
“Pedersen shut us down,” Dierks said. “She did a nice job, kept the ball away, threw strikes and we didn’t adjust well to her.”
Geneva’s Clare Stribling did something only one other catcher has done this year in the fourth when she threw out Lexi Perez trying to steal. The Saints shortstop, who also stole a base in the second inning, is now 33 for 35 this year stealing bases.
“As impressive as the number of steals are is that you know she’s going. They are not trying to hide anything, she’s going to go,” Dierks said. “Claire got a nice pitch to throw and she delivered well.”
While that throw stalled the Saints in the fourth, Saints pinch-hitter Shellby Palomares came through with the game-winning hit the next inning with a single that scored Olivia Lorenzini and Pedersen who both had hits to start the rally.
The Saints then strung together four straight hits in the sixth inning by Peterburs, Collalti, Lorenzini and Alex Latoria for two insurance runs.
Latoria, a freshman called up two weeks ago, went 2-for-2 with a sacrifice and also reached getting hit by a pitch.
The Saints trail St. Charles North by three games in the loss column in the Upstate Eight River race but still have two games left against the North Stars.
“Crazier things have happened,” Horan said.