Geneva surprises St. Charles North
Bridget Weitzel ripped a 3-run home run in Geneva’s 7-6 victory over St. Charles North Wednesday, and her coach Greg Dierks was asked how many homers that is for his left fielder.
“That’s one in her life,” quipped Dierks.
Turns out Weitzel did have a previous homer in her travel softball season last summer in Joliet, though she had to use her legs for that one.
That made her blast Wednesday and the resulting home run trot all the sweeter.
“It was the greatest feeling,” Weitzel said. “I always wanted to take one (trot) because I see everyone else. My summer was more of a home run sprint. To be able to take the trot and to step on home plate without having to be worried about being tagged out, it was a good feeling.”
All the Vikings (7-8, 2-6) were feeling good about starting off Upstate Eight Conference River Division play with a victory over the defending champs. The crossovers against the UEC Valley teams were rough on Geneva at 1-6.
Players and coaches had a talk on the bus ride home from Bartlett Tuesday and came out re-energized against the North Stars (9-8, 5-3).
“We’ve been in a slump lately and they have been hard on us because we have been close to winning,” Weitzel said. “Some days we have offense, some defense, we have to get it together. Today we just buckled down, we came in confident because last year we won against St. Charles North which was a great win. We wanted to keep up this momentum from last year.”
Geneva jumped on the North Stars with two runs in the first, three in the second and two more in the third to go up 7-0, then held on for dear life.
Anna Geary greeted North Stars starter Sabrina Rabin (5-3) with a double in the first and took third on Weitzel’s slap single. Both runners scored when Elena Wright got a bunt down and the North Stars threw the ball away trying to get Geary at the plate.
Weitzel stepped to the plate again in the second with two runners on and two outs and took a low fastball the opposite way over the fence down the left-field line for a 3-run homer and 5-0 lead.
The Vikings chased Rabin in the third. Wright led off with a single and scored on Amanda Ebert’s triple. Ebert came in on a passed ball.
North Stars coach Tom Poulin then pulled Rabin for Shannon Caliri who held the Vikings scoreless on just 1 hit over the final 3 innings.
“They hit the ball hard, they put the ball in play hard,” Poulin said. “I thought we made some mistakes but you have to credit Geneva offensively early in the game. Really proud of the girls for battling back from 7-0 but you can’t spot anyone seven.”
The North Stars began their comeback on Abby Howlett’s RBI double in the fourth. The North Stars scored a pair of runs in both the fifth and sixth — Rabin, Mickey Goetz and Kailee Dressel all delivered run-scoring hits — to pull within 7-5 heading to the seventh.
Kaitlyn Waslawski led off the seventh with a double and scored on a two-out infield single by Sara Hausl. But with the tying and go-ahead runs on base and a 7-run lead nearly gone, Geneva starter Natalie Erbe recorded just her second strikeout to end the game.
“The last few innings was a little nerve-wrecking but I kept my cool,” said Natalie Erbe who was down last week with walking pneumonia.
Erbe picked up her first win of the year, scattering 8 hits and walking just two. Among the strong defense behind her was a 9-4-5 play from Taylor Medernach to Kelly Gordon to Kirsten Searcy to catch Courtney Smith trying to turn a double into a triple.
Geary also made several running grabs in center, and first baseman Nicole White hustled to catch a foul pop when the North Stars had two runners on base.
“Overall the defense was good,” Dierks said. “Natalie is not going to get a ton of strikeouts so we have to play well in the field behind her. I thought we played pretty smart out there.
“Although I’d be happy if we cruised through and kept it 7-0 I like the fact it got tight and we finished one. It’s a nice message to ourselves we can beat good teams. The fact it got close and we won sends us an even better message that we have nothing to be afraid of.”
Rabin led the North Stars with 2 hits. She also made a couple sensational catches in center as she kept her head up after being removed from the circle.
“It’s a credit to her to go out there and make plays and stay focused,” Poulin said. “She plays the game with everything she has. Makes you proud of her.
“We are disappointed today because of how we played in the crossovers lends you to believe you will have some success in the division. But that’s why you play the game.”
Amanda Ebert and Weitzel led Geneva’s 8-hit attack with 2 each.