Rabin, St. Charles N. get right back on track
With both St. Charles North and Waubonsie Valley coming off losses Thursday, only one coach was happy with the way their team responded Friday in St. Charles.
St. Charles North sophomore Sabrina Rabin was ever so slightly better than Waubonsie Valley freshman Shannon Hohman in a 2-1 win for the North Stars.
St. Charles North (8-5, 5-1 in the Upstate Eight) rebounded from an 8-7 loss to Bartlett while Waubonsie Valley (9-4, 5-1) dropped its second straight following eight straight wins.
“I was happy that the game yesterday really hurt them,” North Stars coach Tom Poulin said. “Because coming into the season the outside expectations weren’t that high and Bartlett is always really good and to have that loss sting showed me that they are confident and they believe they let one get away.
Waubonsie Valley has been rolling. I’m really proud of the girls, they stayed together.”
Scoring chances were few and far between for both teams who combined for just 5 hits. Rabin (5-2) allowed 2 hits and 1 walk while striking out six and giving up no earned runs in her 7 innings.
Hohman (7-2) also was touched for an unearned run while finishing with 6 strikeouts, 2 walks and 3 hits.
“We came off a tough loss yesterday and I don’t think we recovered from it,” Warriors coach Aly Kelley said of her team’s loss to West Aurora. “We told them these two teams are both young but look totally different. They (SCN) look like a bunch of young spitfires out there. We told them we have to work on having a presence. They have a presence when they are winning but when they are down it’s like they don’t know how to dig out of the hole.”
The Warriors got into an early hole Friday. Rabin helped herself in the bottom of the first inning. She reached on an error, stole second and third and scored when No. 3 hitter Mickey Goetz got a bunt down back to Hohman.
“I knew she (Hohman) was a really great pitcher so we had to go up there and be aggressive and move the ball around and put the ball in play and see what happens,” Rabin said. “We were disappointed when we lost to Bartlett but they are a good team. We were all ready to go, ready to play.”
“To manufacture the one in the first was huge for our confidence,” Poulin said. “Really happy Mickey getting that one down. That gave us a big boost.”
The North Stars added what proved to be the deciding run in the fourth. Freshman Abby Howlett started the rally with a single and then stole second.
With two outs Courtney Smith laced a double down the right-field line just inside the first-base bag to score Howlett and make it 2-0.
“I have been struggling with my hitting lately and I just wanted to look for a pitch I knew I could hit,” Smith said of the low pitch she turned on. “I thought it might go foul just because I’m so ahead of most of the pitches. I was really excited to make contact because that has been my main goal is to make contact, hit it hard and see where it goes.”
The Warriors plated their only run in the fifth, capitalizing on the North Stars dropping a sinking liner in center field. No. 9 hitter Jessica Sarch beat out an infield single with two outs to drive in the run.
The North Stars, hurt by 6 errors in Thursday’s loss to Bartlett, nearly shot themselves in the foot in the seventh. Nursing the 1-run lead, they booted an infield grounder and threw the ball away to give Waubonsie Valley the tying run at second with no outs.
But Rabin kept her composure and retired the next three batters on a fly to left, sacrifice bunt and a strikeout swinging on an outside pitch for the final out.
“We just have to put it behind us,” Rabin said of the error. “Think next play because if you don’t think next play you are going to keep making errors.”
Rabin mixed her drop curve and rise to hold the Warriors to a pair of singles and put the young North Stars in a promising position as the Upstate Eight crossovers wind down. Their infield Friday consisted of three sophomores, two freshmen and a senior.
“As they continue to improve they have an opportunity to do some special things,” Poulin said. “And we have some freshmen at JV that are very good ballplayers. The program is set up nicely.”
While St. Charles North heads to Marengo Saturday in a matchup of the 2011 Class 3A state champs against the 2011 Class 4A state runners-up, Waubonsie Valley will try to snap its mini losing streak in a doubleheader at West Chicago. The Warriors also are battling a couple minor injuries to a few of their key hitters.
“I think it’s a lot mental,” Kelley said. “I mean they are girls in high school. They have 90,000 things going on and then they are here for a couple hours on a Friday night. That’s one thing we told them, how are you going to bounce back from this. They are young, still learning.”