Softball: Kaneland crushes St. Charles North
Kaneland has been waiting to see how good it can be when it puts all three phases - pitching, hitting and defense - together at the same time.
St. Charles North would be the first to let the Knights know the answer.
Pretty darn good.
While Emilee Erickson handcuffed the North Star hitters and the Knights played error-free defense behind her, Hailey Roach smacked a 2-run home run in the first inning and Donatela Sommesi belted a 2-run homer in the seventh as Kaneland cruised to a 12-0 victory.
The matchup was part of Kaneland's weekend tournament. Both Kaneland (9-2) and St. Charles North (2-1) will play Batavia and DeKalb on Saturday.
"We still haven't clicked on all cylinders," Kaneland coach Mike Kuefler said. "Pitching has been there one day or offense or defense has been there. Slowly but surely that machine is starting to move on all cylinders. We're getting excited about that. Now as we move into the season we need all three of those things to do what we want to. Today we saw a little bit of that."
On a blustery day, Kaneland put up crooked numbers in four of its seven at-bats against three different St. Charles North pitchers.
The first came in the opening inning when Roach followed a walk to her sister Rose with her home run to right-center off sophomore Anastasia Pappas.
"We knew we had to come out strong and start hitting this game," said Hailey Roach, a Youngstown State recruit. "I think we came out with the right mentality."
Erickson, who threw a 1-hit shutout against Yorkville on Tuesday, struck out the side in the North Stars' first. She didn't allow a hit until Grace Sobieski's single in the fourth.
Erickson struck out 10 in her six innings, giving up just 2 singles and a walk. Her pitching was just part of what left an impression on North Stars coach Tom Poulin who said his proud program - three sectional titles the past four years - has never been on the losing side of a 12-0 game.
"It hasn't happened," Poulin said. "We didn't compete. We weren't tough today.
"We're better than this but they are very good. They have a great approach at the plate. They only swing at strikes. They hit them hard. They make plays. They communicate. They do everything winning softball teams do. Today we didn't do anything winning softball teams do."
Danyelle Borysiewicz made the North Stars pay for one of their four errors with her 2-out, 2-run single in the third for a 5-0 lead. Olivia Ortegel singled home two runs in the sixth.
Freshman Grace Algrim closed out the win, striking out the last batter with a pair of change-ups. Kuefler said she will pitch one of the games Saturday along with McKenna Ryan.
The North Stars, who opened the season with wins over Fremd and Naperville Central, started four freshmen.
"None of that matters," Poulin said. "We have a varsity softball team and believe we can compete with the schedule we put together.
"We had quality at-bats the first two games. It looked like we didn't want to be out here, and there was a team out here looking to make a statement. Not just beat us but dominate us. They accomplished their goal. We'll be better because of today. We'll make sure of that."