Kane County Chronicle 2024-25 Softball Player of the Year: St. Charles East junior Hayden Sujack

It’s no secret that St. Charles East’s Hayden Sujack had burst onto the high school softball scene in her first two seasons.

With 25 home runs to her name, Sujack knew going into her junior season there likely was a good chance that teams would have special plans to make sure she didn’t add long balls to her total.

Not to mention in the fall she had committed to South Carolina.

So how did she do with the added pressure?

“She handled that pressure and then some like it didn’t even faze her,” Saints coach Jarod Gutesha said. “I know there is pressure, and I know she does feel that pressure, but it doesn’t deter her performance on the field and the way she handles herself, you would never know it.”

She showed that with a career year.

Sujack finished the season batting .461 with 53 hits – including 12 doubles, a triple and 17 home runs – and 48 RBIs to lead the Saints to their first sectional title since 2019. She also set St. Charles East’s career home run record (42) and earned her second consecutive Illinois Coaches Association Class 4A All-State first-team honor.

As a result of her accomplishments, Sujack has been named the 2025 Kane County Chronicle Softball Player of the Year.

“This was a big year for me, and I’m grateful for all the opportunities that I had to get me to where I was,” Sujack said. “But at the same time, I’m really excited for my team. We started out rocky, but then we just took off. The camaraderie was great, and I wanted to go to softball every day, and I wanted to see those people and spend as much time as I took with them.”

Part of her success at the plate this season came from a change in mental approach that Sujack took to hitting, especially when she hit “cold periods.” She said that while in the past she would freak out at those, this year she made sure to focus on training and taking a bit of a detox to try to get on the right track.

“The game is so mental, and you go through so many ups and downs,” Sujack said. “I knew I had to trust the training that I’d been putting in, and I just had to not think and go. But taking that approach and reminding myself that I’m ready for this moment. That’s one of the biggest things that helped me. I put too much time in it that freaking out about it was not worth it.”

This season also was Sujack’s first playing catcher for the Saints after spending her first two years in the outfield. And after spending her club team’s season behind the plate, Sujack was more than happy to finally be the backstop for the Saints.

“I was ready to go,” she said. “I couldn’t wait to start catching again in high school because that is just like the place I’m confident. It definitely requires a different mindset compared to the outfield, but that’s definitely the place I feel most comfortable.”

That sense of comfort showed in multiple ways. She caught 11 runners stealing and allowed only three passed balls. Gutesha said she acted like a second coach on the field, especially for the newer pitchers taking the circle.

“Hayden was able to just recognize what pitchers needed and be that coach on the field,” Gutesha said. “She knows when to pump them up and then give them a little word of encouragement. But she also has a tremendous calming ability to calm them down so they can settle in and be at their best and that’s how we kept our pitchers strong all the way throughout the season and then their strongest at the end.”

Sujack said that with the school record for career home runs out of the way, her focus has turned to hopefully breaking Bailey Dowling’s state record for career home runs, which was set at 65 in 2019.

A South Carolina sticker proudly is displayed on the back of her catcher’s mask, but Sujack is ready for one more season of having fun playing with the Saints.

“I liked playing with the South Carolina name being associated to my name, but I had to play like me and live up to the name,” Sujack said. “A sticker is a sticker, but for now I’m Hayden Sujack and I’m proud to play for St. Charles East.”