St. Charles N. blanks Glenbard E.
Ashley Seering said she was relaxed, Amanda Ciran described herself as a little nervous.
Whatever the emotions, St. Charles North made sure its 2011 postseason got off to a better start than 2010 with a 5-0 victory over Glenbard East on Tuesday in the Class 4A St. Charles East regional semifinals.
The smiles on both Seering and Ciran’s faces afterward were quite a contrast to last year’s regional opener. Like this season, St. Charles North entered last year’s tourney as a No. 2 seed with high expectations but saw its season end in a flash with an 8-7 loss to No. 15 York.
Seering and Ciran made sure history didn’t repeat itself against another low seed, this time the No. 18 Rams (9-23). Seering put the North Stars (27-3) ahead early with a 2-run double in the first inning to start her 3-for-3 day at the plate while Ciran tossed a 3-hit shutout to improve to 19-1.
“I was a little nervous coming into the game,” Ciran said. “Last year I just wanted to get past this game. It was definitely a hump for us as a team. Once we took this step we can go just as far as we want. We just have to keep playing hard and get pumped up for every game.”
While Seering said she didn’t share Ciran’s nerves before hand, she helped put all the North Star fans at ease with her first-inning smash that rolled to the wall in left center and scored Sydney Russell and Loren Cihlar, who had both singled.
“I wanted to make sure Amanda had a nice secure base to start off the game, had some insurance runs in the beginning,” Seering said. “It felt good to get this game out of the way. It’s one down, we have more to go and I’m excited to keep playing.”
The North Stars added to their lead in the third. Taylor Russell was hit by a pitch, took third on Seering’s second double and scored on Natalie Capone’s bunt single.
Rams starter Kara Tadda kept her team in a 3-0 game all the way to the bottom of the sixth. Annie Korth started the North Stars’ 2-run rally with a single. Pinch runner Sabrina Rabin stole second and scored on Ciran’s single. Cihlar capped the scoring with an RBI double.
That was more than enough for Ciran, who didn’t use her changeup as much as usual while finishing with 4 strikeouts and 2 walks.
“It (my change) was a little fast, I stayed away (from it), my defense was solid today and that got the job done,” said Ciran, who said she’d grade her performance a “B.”
“I wasn’t as on today as I can be,” Ciran said. “An ‘A’ (is) top-notch speed, placing my ball on the outside corner of the plate, just making sure it is where it needs to be all the time. Once they start floating inside it’s a little scary when they start swinging the bat. Today wasn’t bad but it wasn’t the best.”
Glenbard East had 2 good scoring chances, leaving 2 runners on base in both the second and fourth innings. The other five innings Ciran set them down in order 4 times. Capone helped at shortstop with a diving catch to rob Brittany Plimmer of a hit.
Alissa Mogavero had 2 of the Rams’ 3 hits.
“We had runners in scoring position,” Glenbard East coach Valerie Pinzker said. “We had the right kids up at the plate. They are a good team. We know they are tough, we know they are the No. 2 seed. We just came out here and said we’d do our best. We had nothing to lose.”
About the only negative for the North Stars was getting two runners thrown out on the bases.
“I thought we ran ourselves out of one or two runs,” North Stars coach Tom Poulin said. “I like us being aggressive but we made a couple mistakes on the basepaths that could hurt you in a close game later in the tournament.”
Cihlar, Capone and Emily Watts all had 2 hits for the North Stars, who play the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 7 Lake Park and No. 10 Batavia in the regional championship Saturday. The North Stars defeated Lake Park 2-0 this year and won a pair of games against the Bulldogs, 4-2 and 5-2.
“Lake Park, high softball IQ, they are not going to beat themselves and Batavia has sticks up and down their lineup,” Poulin said. “Both teams are a challenge.”