Batavia pounds St. Charles East
The Batavia girls softball team is going to return to St. Charles East’s diamond in two weeks, and the Bulldogs hope to bring the same hitting shoes they wore Friday.
Batavia racked up 14 hits against the Saints, taking control of the game early with a 5-run third inning and putting it away late with a 4-run seventh on their way to a 10-3 victory.
The Bulldogs finish the regular season with 6 games next week, then come back to St. Charles East (14-13, 8-7) for regional play on May 25 against Lake Park.
The Lancers defeated Batavia (17-6, 9-6) 4-2 in the regular season. Lake Park better hope it gets that Batavia team again in regional play and not the one that showed up ready to hit on a rainy Senior Day in St. Charles.
Meghan Fabian led the charge going 4-for-4 with 2 RBI.
“I was focusing on my mechanics and I guess it worked today,” said Fabian, who laid down a sacrifice bunt in her first at-bat and then had 4 straight singles.
“We’ve been working together as a team and staying positive and working on cheering on the bench and in between innings. We’ve been working good as a team this year.”
Christine Lynam, Brooke Nelson, Katie Coleman and Erin Costigan all had 2 hits. Coleman doubled and hit her first home run of the season, the 33rd for Batavia.
“We hit the ball hard,” Batavia coach Ashley Szymski said. “That was the key. A couple plays that were key were hard ground balls they had a little trouble with. I was very pleased overall.”
Coleman’s home run put Batavia ahead 1-0 in the second. Nelson and Emily Dorjath delivered run-scoring doubles in the third as Batavia built a 6-0 lead.
The Saints chipped their way back into the game. Ally Schweizer’s double off the right-field fence scored 2 runs in the fourth inning that made it 6-3.
Batavia scored 4 runs on just 2 hits in the seventh. A pair of errors added fuel to the rally, and Fabian capped the inning with a 2-run single.
“The rest of the year I don’t want to see the team that came out here today,” Saints coach Kelly Horan said. “They (Batavia) are a good team. We came out flat, we made it easy for them.”
Defensively, Lindsay McEacheren made her first start at shortstop in place of Katie Neubauer (foot) and handled five plays flawlessly.
Coleman improved to 5-1, allowing 4 hits, 3 runs and 2 walks in 7 innings, striking out three. Leah Valesh took the loss, though she did hold Katie Ryan to an 0-for-4 game, using her changeup to keep Ryan off-balance. Ryan leads the area with 14 home runs.
“They are pitching her a lot of change-ups and she’s such an aggressive batter she just wants to swing,” Szymski said. “That is just youth and not as much experience.”
The Saints will try to bounce back when they play at Batavia on Monday.
“Hopefully Monday we will respond and give them a little bit better of a game,” Horan said. “After you have a setback it’s all about what you do after the setback.”