South Elgin hammers St. Charles East 8-4
First came the nail. Then came the hammer.
Lauren Vitiello delivered the nail, a 2-run home run in the bottom of the first inning that helped stake South Elgin to a 4-run inning, and then Courtney Bosteder dropped the hammer, a 3-run bomb in the fifth that made it a 7-1 game, as the Storm knocked off Upstate Eight Conference softball co-leader St. Charles East 8-4 Saturday morning in South Elgin.
The loss dropped the Saints (19-7-1, 12-3) a game behind St. Charles North in the UEC race. The rivals face each other Wednesday at East. North now sits atop the UEC standings with Lake Park, which eliminated defending champion Bartlett from the race 1-0 Saturday, lurking at 11-4 and South Elgin hanging by a thread at 10-5.
"For the UEC race, we're going to need some help," said South Elgin coach Jason Schaal, whose team went on to beat Crystal Lake South 6-5 in eight innings and then lose to Schaumburg 5-4 on South Elgin's quad day.
"We have to win out and we'll need some help. I told the girls our conference title hopes aren't great and that more than anything we need to focus on getting healthy and ready for the postseason."
South Elgin (17-11 overall) won Saturday's game with big bats and the strong left arm of Vitiello, a senior who was pitching for the first time in three weeks. Having beaten the Saints a week earlier with ace Cary Thereon, Schaal turned to Vitiello for Saturday's game and she came through with flying colors, liming the Saints to 6 hits over the first five innings while the Storm built an 8-1 lead.
"It felt good," said Vitiello, whose last outing in the circle was April 29 against Elgin and who found out just 25 minutes prior to Saturday's game she was going to pitch.
"My arm was loose and it just felt good."
So did her swing. The Storm jumped on St. Charles East starter Gabby Moe for 4 runs in the bottom of the first. Kaitlyn Stonecipher led off with a single, was sacrificed to second by Brittany Boelter and took third on Kim Pierce's too-hot-to-handle grounder. Pierce took second without a play just before Bosteder ripped a 2-run double to the fence in left field and then Bosteder scored when Vitiello launched a 2-0 Moe pitch far over the right field fence.
"I think it was just the momentum of pitching," Vitiello said of her home run. "And, (Schaal) has been telling us to get up quick and today we did."
The Saints came back with a run in the top of the second on Rachael Edwards' RBI single but they had runners at second and third when Vitiello got a soft liner to first and a strikeout to end the inning.
The Storm carried the 4-1 lead into the bottom of the fifth when they hit the Saints with another 4-spot. Stonecipher led off with a walk and with one out Pierce singled to left. Bosteder then jacked a 3-run shot over the fence in left to make it a 7-1 game and chase Moe from the circle. An RBI single from Diana Besser with two outs made it 8-1.
The Saints did scored twice in the sixth and once in the seventh to make it an 8-4 game, and they had runners at first and third when Vitiello snagged Jenny Niemic's hard smash and tossed to first to end the game.
"The energy was there, the bat's were there and Lauren threw great," said Schaal. "I was concerned with her pitch count but she was in such a rhythm I just wanted to let her go. If she can pitch like that down the stretch, we're gonna be tough. That's a huge win for us."
Niemec had an RBI single in the sixth and Rebecca Reinbold drove in a run in the seventh for the Saints.
"(South Elgin) hit the heck out of the ball, that's it," said Saints coach Kelly Barnett. "We still have to take care of our business and we also have to get some help. It's just one game. We just have to regroup."