St. Charles East tops rival, reaches regional final
St. Charles East had a chance to do more than advance to a regional final when it hosted St. Charles North Wednesday in the regional semifinals of the Phil Lawler Summer Classic.
The North Stars swept the Saints this spring in a three-game series for the first time in a decade, and St. Charles East relished its opportunity for payback.
The Saints got it, using a balanced attack with hits from everyone in their lineup plus two players off the bench on their way to a 9-6 victory.
"That week was a bad week for us," Saints coach Len Asquini said of the sweep this spring. "We didn't handle that. I thought our guys were nice and fired up after what happened in the spring. I thought our guys did a good job in all phases of the game."
St. Charles East (26-7) will play Waubonsie Valley - a 6-1 winner over Crystal Lake South - for the St. Charles East regional championship at 4 p.m. Thursday. The winner advances to next week's 8-team state tournament at North Central College and Benedictine University.
St. Charles North (19-6) started fast against Saints starter Matt Breidigan, scoring a run in the first and three in the second to lead 4-0.
Senior center fielder Brendan Joyce was in middle of both rallies. He doubled to deep center and scored in the first inning, then capped the second inning with a run-scoring single before eventually coming around to score from third base when he got a quick jump on a passed ball that didn't bounce more than 10 feet from the catcher.
Joyce continued his big day in the field, making diving catch in center and then doubling a runner off second base in the first inning. In the second inning he threw out a runner at the plate.
Joyce later singled before flying out to the fence in deep center to finish 3-for-4.
"He's a phenomenal player," North Stars coach Todd Genke said. "He's a Division I athlete. He brought it. He did it all summer and all spring. That play he made in the first inning was phenomenal. He makes those plays look routine and he had a great day at the plate. It's just a shame we didn't have a little bit more."
The Saints pulled within 4-2 against Christian Sidoti on Steve Podany's RBI groundout and a run-scoring single from John Dellostritto.
Corbin Marucco's single tied the game at 4 in the third and chased Sidoti. Podany followed by lining a 2-run single to the opposite field to put the Saints ahead to stay at 6-4.
"It was a new pitcher and I was just expecting a fastball down the middle and that's what I got and I just went with it," Podany said.
Aiden Wright delivered a pinch hit 2-run double in the sixth for a 9-4 lead. That made the seventh inning less stressful when Kyle Novotany and Blake Saltsman drove in runs for the North Stars, who Genke said were missing 4 starters at a showcase in Georgia.
Breidigan pitched 6 innings, throwing 55 of his 88 pitches for strikes while striking out four and walking just one.
"He threw super three through six," Asquini said. "Made some changes, made some adjustments, hit the zone. That was a great performance."