Softball: Cary-Grove puts broom to St. Charles North
St. Charles North kept coming back, but Cary-Grove found ways to win in sweeping a nonconference softball doubleheader from the North Stars Saturday in St. Charles.
SCN tied the opener twice in the late going before the Trojans prevailed, 6-5, in nine innings. C-G then grabbed a 5-1 lead in the nightcap and held on for a 5-3 win.
First-game batterymates Emma Hill and Anna Whitaker each had 4 hits and 3 RBI on the day for Cary-Grove (9-2). Francesca Cruz added 3 hits and drove in 2.
Alyssa Eby and Ashlyn Jozefowicz had 3 hits apiece for the North Stars (6-5).
"It was nice, absolutely," said Cary-Grove coach Tammy Olson. "We've got to keep working on things, obviously. Watching that game, you're like, 'OK.' But the bats did their job and we've got to keep on going."
In Game 1, the North Stars were down to their last strike with 2 out and nobody on in the seventh. Then Jozefowicz walked, and Eby's high fly to left center was dropped for an error, allowing Jozefowicz to score the tying run.
The Trojans retook the lead in the eighth on Jill Deering's run-scoring double. Deering scored an insurance run on an error.
But back came the North Stars. Grace Quinn reached on an error. Courtesy runner Danielle Trumbo came around to score on another error. Grace Sobieski walked and eventually scored on Lindsey Sawicki's grounder.
Cary-Grove finally took the lead for good in the ninth when Hill singled and Whitaker doubled.
SCN had 2 runners on with 2 out in the bottom of the ninth, but Jazmin Flushing hauled in Olivia Obourne's deep fly to center to end it.
Jilian Waslawski went the distance in the circle for SCN, allowing 3 earned runs.
"We gave them opportunity," Olson said. "We'd come back and get a couple of runs and they'd answer it back because we would make mistakes. That's what we did. We made mistakes at the wrong time."
The difference in the doubleheader was pretty simple according to St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin.
"Cary-Grove played better softball than we did," he said. "They hit better and pitched better. We just made too many mistakes. We didn't have very many good at-bats with runners in scoring position."
It looked like Game 2 would be more back-and-forth, as Cary-Grove scored a run in the first and SCN matched it. Then the Trojans exploded for 4 runs in the third and this time the North Stars couldn't catch up.
Alina Krembuszewski started the big inning with a single and stole second. Hill drove her in with a single. Whitaker, Cruz, and winning pitcher Katy Wieczorek also drove in runs in the inning, the last coming on a bases-loaded walk.
Sawicki took over in the circle for SCN and held C-G scoreless the rest of the way, but the North Stars couldn't get to Wieczorek consistently either.
The Stars got one back on singles by Laine VanderHei and Trumbo, but Wieczorek then retired 11 of the next 12 batters she faced. The only batter who did reach in that span was wiped out on a nifty double play from Nicollette Richardi to Kelly Johnson to Hill.