Payleitner hits three homers to power Saints

Updated: April 26, 2011 11:28PM

Through wind and rain and dark of night, St. Charles East’s Rae Anne Payleitner could not be stopped.

The Saints’ catcher smashed three consecutive two-run home runs and the Saints combined for six total homers Tuesday to hand Elgin a 17-7 defeat in Upstate Eight Conference River Division play.

“I was just seeing the ball today, whatever it was,” said Payleitner, who now has nine home runs on the season. “We had the rain coming at us, we had the darkness coming at us at the end of that game.

“It was just a matter of seeing and knowing when to hit the ball and taking bad pitches and hitting the ones I could get.”

The game got pushed back an hour because of storms, and batters had a strong tailwind for an advantage. It was nearly dark in the seventh when Payleitner hit her final shot.

“The thing was, I wasn’t the first one to hit one out,” said Payleitner, who had seven RBI. “I know I fed off the energy my teammates gave me. That’s how we work as a team. The energy in the dugout gets us going.”

The first two homers off losing pitcher Jennifer Fulton (1-1) came in the Saints’ seven-run third inning. The Maroons led 4-1 after two innings, but the Saints took an 8-4 lead and Payleitner kept expanding it.

“We focus on line drives,” Saints coach Kelly Horan said. “Our kids put in the time in the off-season in the weight room so line drives turn into home runs when you’re dedicated enough to do that kind of stuff.

“Most of our power has been through Rae Ann, so it was really good to see the rest of our girls jump on the ball.”

In the third, Ally Schweizer hit a three-run homer after Olivia Lorenzini singled in a run and Payleitner drove in one with a fielder’s choice. Following Schweizer’s homer, Krista Besser singled and Shannon Pedersen followed with a two-run homer. Then Payleitner hit two-run shots in the fourth, sixth and the five-run seventh. No. 9 hitter Lindsay Vellega got in on the act with a two-run shot in the seventh prior to Payleitner’s final homer.

A pitching move actually seemed to spark the Saints (7-9, 4-3). Leah Valesh started and the Maroons hit her for four runs in the first two innings, including Monika Stockman’s two-run single in the first and an RBI double by Anna Eckholm. So Horan went to Pedersen (4-2), who allowed an RBI single by Jennah Perryman in the third and Monika Stockman’s first-ever home run, a two-run shot to center that cut Elgin’s deficit to 8-7.

But that was it for Elgin scoring as Pedersen scattered six hits over 4 2/3 innings following Stockman’s homer.

“We hit today, but we didn’t timely-hit,” Elgin coach Chad Dahlman said. “They had the big hits.”

Elgin (13-8, 2-5) played the game short-handed, as ace pitcher Hannah Perryman was still not cleared following a concussion she suffered away from the field, her sister Jennah had to rest her arm because she’d pitched 14 innings in a tournament Saturday, and leadoff hitter Rachel Roth was ill.

“We only had 11 kids available,” said Dahlman, who added that he expects to have his ace pitcher back tonight for a 7 p.m. game against rival Larkin at Judson University’s field. “We’ll be as healthy as we’ve been in a while, I hope.”

Pedersen struck out four and gave up nine hits while walking one in 5 1/3 innings.

“Leah wasn’t as sharp as normally and it was just a momentum thing when I switched,” Horan said. “It felt like momentum swung to our side after the switch and Shannon did a nice job.”

Alexis Perez had three hits and three runs for the Saints, while Stockman drove in four runs for Elgin and Jennah Perryman had three hits.

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