East softball wins own Invite, splits
By KEVIN DRULEY
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kdruley@kcchronicle.com
ST. CHARLES – Celebration took a backseat to prom preparation for most of the St. Charles East softball team on Saturday.
You wouldn't have known the host Saints had clinched the East Invitational title five minutes after their decisive 2-1 win against Hoffman Estates.
"Once coach let us leave," junior Stephanie Roan said, "all the girls just sprinted out and were like, ' See ya!' "
At least East departed on a good note, blanking St. Ignatius, 3-0, and tying Rockford Harlem, 4-4, before edging Hoffman Estates to complete an unbeaten run through its own tournament.
"You play three games in a day, it can be fatiguing, but the will and the desire is what took them over," Saints coach Kelly Barnett said. "That's very good to see."
East (14-5-1) defeated Maine South on Friday to begin its busy weekend, then ended it with a resilient rally. The Saints scored two runs in the sixth inning against Hawks right-hander Kaitlyn Walsh by doing the little and big things right.
Roan erased a 1-0 deficit when she doubled to right field on an 0-1 pitch to score Rebecca Reinbold, who opened the inning with a single and moved over on a sacrifice. No sooner than she finished clapping her hands did Roan advance to third on a passed ball.
She scored on Rachael Edwards' single, a ground ball shot that eluded diving Hoffman Estates second baseman Emily Fett.
Pitching her 17th inning of the day – seven against St. Ignatius, three against Harlem and seven against Hoffman Estates – Saints righty Katie Stengler worked around Walsh's leadoff single to retire the Hawks (6-13) to end the game.
"She was phenomenal. Her changeup was ridiculous," Roan said. "She's a great pitcher."
Barnett labels Stengler (3-3) and fellow junior Gaby Moe as "my two No. 1s", and East needed both to secure a tournament title. Moe pitched into the fifth inning of the Harlem game, which effectively earned her the tie, after defeating Maine South, 5-2, in the opener.
Stengler built upon that effort by shutting out the opposition in 16 of 17 innings, yielding only an RBI single to Alex Wulbecker in the Hoffman Estates fourth. She allowed one inherited runner to score after Harlem began its fifth inning with a double and single against Moe.
Hawks coach Lindsey Hamma thought her team challenged Stengler, who scattered seven hits, including six singles.
"Today, we didn't get the game-winner or the game-tier, but overall it was a good day for us," Hamma said."
East players offered the same summation – albeit from a depleted dugout.
"In the past we had kind of struggled in this tournament, and our goal was to definitely win it," Roan said. "We played really well."
