Payleitner powers Saints past Bulldogs

Updated: May 16, 2011 8:46PM

Turnabout is fair play.

Three days after dropping a 10-3 Upstate Eight River Conference decision to visiting Batavia, St. Charles East returned the favor, riding a nine-run fifth inning to a 14-7 victory as the teams combined for 25 hits.

“I think we thought it would be easier,” said Batavia coach Ashley Szymski, who had tried to warn her team beforehand. “You beat a team like that (on Friday), they’re not gonna just lay over for you.”

They didn’t. Saints’ first baseman Rae Anne Payleitner, who will play softball next year for the United States Military Academy, saw to that.

She went 4-for-5 with a pair of home runs – her 10th and 11th of the season – and drove in five runs. Neither roundtripper was a cheapie.

The visitors trailed 4-3 when Sarah Collatti led off the fifth against losing pitcher Brooke Nelson (6-2) with a single. Payleitner followed with a blast just right of the 230-foot sign in right centerfield.

“She pitched me outside twice so I was anticipating it again and took it to right,” said Payleitner, adding that she lives for such RBI opportunities. “I hit it where it was pitched. I don’t try to hit home runs. I was just trying to take it to right for a single.”

She would add an RBI single later in the inning as the Saints sent 13 batters to the plate and put up seven hits off Nelson and reliever Katie Coleman. It included a two-run triple by Collatti as the Saints’ 3-4 hitters had four hits and five RBI in that inning.

“The last two years I batted fourth, so I was always seeing runners on,” said Payleitner, who is hitting third this season. Collatti, who hits second, reached base four times in the game.

“I like to see those RBIs out on the bases,” said Payleitner.

Her second home run was a solo shot in the seventh that cleared the fence just left of the 230-foot sign in center.

“Rae Anne is a great hitter,” said St. Charles East coach Kelly Horan, whose team climbs to 15-13 and 9-7. “Even when a pitcher gets in a rhythm, it’s pretty hard to fool her more than twice. We needed her to have a big game. She showed why she’s our leader.”

Batavia didn’t back down. Each player in the lineup had at least one hit and the Bulldogs (17-7, 9-7) outhit the visitors 13-12.

The home team scored three times after entering the bottom of the seventh down 13-4 and left two runners stranded when the final out was recorded by winning pitcher Shannon Pedersen, who went the distance.

Batavia stranded nine runners in the game.

“Even at the end, we had a little bit of a comeback,” said Szymski. “But we had five errors in the field (to the Saints’ two). You combine that with a couple baserunning errors and that’s too much to overcome. We have to be a better prepared team if we want to win out.”

Katie Ryan and Christine Lynam led the Bulldogs with three hits each.

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