North Stars claim share of UEC River title

Updated: May 12, 2011 9:42PM

With just one loss this season, St. Charles North’s Amanda Ciran has been nearly impossible to beat.

A week ago, Geneva got to the senior. Since then, however, Ciran and the North Stars have topped Batavia, Elgin and on Thursday, defeated Neuqua Valley, 7-1, in an Upstate Eight Conference crossover contest.

“She’s had a great week,” North coach Tom Poulin said. “She’s worked through Batavia yesterday and Elgin on Tuesday and now Neuqua, that’s a tough week. It’s all teams who are competitive or near the top of the conference, so I’m really proud of Amanda.”

“It’s been a great week,” Ciran added. “After the Geneva loss, I feel we have a new life started again. It’s been awesome.”

The win guaranteed the North Stars (21-2, 15-1) no worse than a tie for the UEC River Division title. Neuqua Valley is now 12-8, 8-4.

“This has been one of our better performances,” Poulin said.

“They do well,” Neuqua Valley coach Melissa Wilson said of the North Stars. “They hit the ball, they place the ball really well...they execute, they are aggressive on the bases, they are looking to steal and for that extra base. And, obviously, it pays off because they get the runs they need.”

Ciran (15-1) allowed just three hits, struck out five and allowed a single walk. She almost pitched a shutout, but Neuqua Valley was able to score on the North Stars’ lone error of the game.

“(Ciran) did a really nice job of keeping our batters off balance,” Wilson said.

The North Stars scored a run in the second after three consecutive singles, including an RBI single from Caitlyn Khoury. In the third, they scored two more runs with the bases loaded on an illegal pitch and a play at the plate that allowed Loren Cihlar to slide at home safely.

In the fourth, with Cihlar on base on a Neuqua Valley error, Taylor Russell hit an inside-the-park home run that pushed the North Stars to a 5-0 advantage.

Khoury recorded her second RBI single of the game in the fifth, and in the sixth Ashley Seering did the same for the North Stars’ sixth and seventh runs of the game. Cihlar ended up scoring three runs and finished with two hits, as did Russell, Sabrina Rabin and Khoury.

The Wildcats got their run across when Jena Boudreau led the seventh off getting on first on an error. Her pinch-runner, Katie Cruise, moved to second and third on back-to-back singles from Leigh Nebendahl and Brooke Meyer. Cruise scored when she stole home the same time Meyer stole second.

“I was really happy with the girls getting a couple of hits at the end of the game,” Wilson said.

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