North tops rival East, eyes title

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ST. CHARLES -- St. Charles North coach April Stary said she "saw glimpses of it last year," but she couldn't have expected this.

With eight sophomores in the starting lineup, the North Stars moved one step closer to clinching their first Upstate Eight Conference title after beating crosstown rival and host St. Charles East 12-8 in a wild and windy affair on Wednesday.

North has three league games left and can claim a share of the league title with a win over Waubonsie Valley today and can clinch the outright title by winning at least two of its final three games.

"There were 11 alumni here today and not one of them had the opportunity for this," Stary said. "These kids are young and able to play as a team."

With the wind gusting out to straight-away center, both teams took advantage of the conditions as North and East combined for 23 hits, including four home runs. No long ball was bigger than Annie Korth's three-run blast as part of a North seven-run sixth inning.

The North Stars (22-8, 15-2) entered the inning down 7-5, but cut the lead to one after an RBI single from Sydney Russell scored Natalie Capone (3-for-4, run), and tied it after an error in the outfield. Sophomore JC Plezbert delivered a single to left to give North the lead and Taylor Russell pushed the lead to 9-7 after scoring from third on an error. Two batters later, Korth made it 12-7 after her two-out shot over the left-center-field fence.

"That was definitely the inning that put us over the edge," said Amanda Ciran (8-5), who pitched the final three innings to earn the win in relief of the only non-sophomore starter, junior Amanda Engel. "We have so much heart and it really showed today."

North scored three runs in the first on three errors to take a 3-0 lead, but East tied it in the second after a three-run homer from Kayla Brooks. Two innings later, sophomore Rae Anne Payleitner had a solo home run to give the Saints a 7-5 lead.

Kristin Damm also had a home run for North. However, each of East's five errors resulted in runs for North.

"My message was simple: we have to play better defense," said East coach Kelly Barnett. "Most of their runs came after an error or multiple errors. Even with the wind, I cut them no slack."

Katie Stengler (5-5) started for the Saints (20-9-1, 13-5) and Gaby Moe pitched in relief.