Softball: Hall, St. Charles East pull away from Bartlett

Up by just 4 runs with runners at second and third in the top of the seventh, Jordan Hall knew one thing for certain.

She had to put the ball on play, and give herself, and her St. Charles East softball team, some breathing room against pesky Bartlett.

The senior did more than that, lashing out and launching a 1-0 pitch over the left field wall that set the final score in an 11-5 East victory.

"My main mindset when I was up the bat was, hit it to the right side, because we had runners on base," Hall said. "I guess I was a little early on the ball, or it was an inside pitch, and I just took it."

Good thing, too. Hall, who improved to 7-3 as the winning pitcher, gave up a single and a walk in the bottom of the frame, thus an opportunity for the Hawks to capitalize. And if the score had been 8-5, who knows what might have been?

Instead, the Saints improved to 17-3-1 overall and 5-2 in the Upstate Eight, leaving first-year coach Jarod Gutesha gleaming.

"She's done a nice job for us and had some big hits for us this year, and that was another big one," Gutesha said of Hall. "She's had lots of big hits that just put the team in a good position to win the game."

East chased Bartlett starting and losing pitcher Danielle Kirby with 3 runs in the fourth inning and 4 more in the fifth to grab a 7-2 lead. But Bartlett fought back in its half of the fifth, leveraging a double by Alyssa Nowak to drive in Sydney Quagliano and Katie Fornoff to pull within 7-5.

And then the weather rolled in, with thunder halting the game for 30 minutes. When it picked back up, the Saints had to wait until the seventh to cash in, getting a double from Rylee Stout and a walk from Delaney Devor. Courtesy runner Maddy Stout score on a fielder's choice by Maddie Candre. Hall and her heroics were next.

"It was a good game," Hawks coach Jim Wolfsmith said. "Their pitcher did a good job keeping us down in a couple of instances; we gave them some outs. It was what I wanted to see, other than we didn't win."

Hall went 2-for-4 with a single, her home run and 5 RBI. Rylee Stout went 3-for-4 with a single, double, home run and 3 runs scored, while Devor went 2-for-3 with a single, double, walk and 3 runs scored as well.

Amber Pagan homered in the second inning for Bartlett, which fell to 11-6 and 5-2 in league. Fornoff went 2-for-4 with 2 singles and run scored.