Softball: St. Charles North rides 5-run first in 8-2 victory over Wheaton Warrenville-South

ST. CHARLES – Five runs to start off a game is always great.

With a pitcher like Paige Murray in the circle, five runs were more than enough for St. Charles North.

“I always joke with her that my magic number for her is three [runs],” assistant coach Thijs Dennison said. “Our record has been pretty incredible the past couple years when we hit that threshold.”

The North Stars used a five-run first inning along with three insurance runs in the sixth to secure an 8-2 DuKane Conference victory over Wheaton Warrenville South on May 6.

With the win, the North Stars (16-3, 8-2) moved into first place in the conference with four games remaining. Wheaton North and Lake Park trail by half a game with 7-2 conference records. Glenbard North trails by one game at 7-3.

St. Charles North came out of the gates swinging against Maddie Pool, who had tossed a no-hitter in her previous outing against Plainfield South.

Mack Patterson scored the first run after beating a throw home on a ground ball by Abby Zawadzki.

Three batters later with the bases loaded and two outs, Skyla Ritter squared up the first pitch she saw for a two-run single to give the North Stars an early 3-0 lead.

“I knew that in every at-bat the pitcher was giving us one hard pitch to hit and I knew it was going to be the first one,” Ritter said. “It’s always nice to give Paige some runs under her belt and lift the weight off her shoulders.”

The North Stars also were especially aggressive on the basepaths in the first inning. They swiped three bases in the inning and scored two runs on wild pitches.

Dennison, who was acting as head coach for the game while Tom Poulin attended a celebration of life for his uncle, said that considering the team hadn’t practiced in two weeks, the first inning was a huge confidence boost.

“They came out and got us started right from the get-go,” Dennison said. “It definitely set the tone for the rest of the game.”

St. Charles North put three more runs on the board in the sixth. Maddie Hernandez capped the inning with a two-out, two-run single to make it 8-2.

That was more than enough leverage for Murray. The junior struck out four in the win.

Murray, who claimed she didn’t have her best stuff in the circle, said getting the early lead helped her confidence.

“It wasn’t my best day, which is going to happen every now and then. You’re not going to have your best stuff every day,” Murray said. “But I just had to trust my defense behind me. They made some incredible plays behind me and I knew that if I went right at the batters and trusted my spin that I could get it done.”

Despite the early deficit, Wheaton Warrenville South (16-8, 4-6) did not back down with its approach at the plate. Pool put the first run on the board for the Tigers with an RBI double to left field in the third inning. Abby Mease blooped a single over third base in the fifth to cut the deficit to 5-2.

Tigers coach Jeff Pawlak said that after the ugliness of the first inning he told his girls the game was far from over.

“I told them that we had six innings to play and we knew that we could hang with them after only losing 1-0 last time,” Pawlak said. “And overall I thought they did. We had some solid at-bats and I thought we saw what was coming. We hit the ball up the middle and to the opposite field really well. The result isn’t what we wanted, but we had some positives in the game.”

Pawlak said the fight showed what the team could do when the postseason comes around, but for now the Tigers need to focus on making sure they play a full game.

“We can’t have the mishap in the first or sixth and then be chasing runs,” Pawlak said. “And when that happens, we have to be able to stop it and limit the damage. We can’t just let it build. But overall, I like the group we have and we’ll be good come playoff time.”