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North Stars rebound from early mistakes
Updated: June 6, 2011 10:21PM
Every bad thing possible happened to St. Charles North at the start of its 4A Supersectional softball showdown against DeKalb. Bad base running. Mental mistakes. DeKalb finding holes in their infield.
The North Stars looked up at a 4-0 first inning deficit.
“I don’t think we’ve had that frustrating an inning all year,” St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said.
The North Stars rebounded and then some, pounding out 15 hits and collecting 12 unanswered runs in the 12-4 victory Monday night at Northern Illinois.
St. Charles North (31-3) advances to play New Trier in the second semifinal Friday at East Peoria’s EastSide Centre.
“It was great softball and coaching on DeKalb’s part,” Poulin said. “They knew we’d have a lot of nerves and they put us a in a position where we had to make plays.
“They really had us on our heels.”
Star pitcher Amanda Ciran dominated on the mound and behind the plate.
“We were almost too pumped up at the start, even overexcited and we just had to calm down and play our game,” Ciran said.
DeKalb’s MacKenzie Johnson smashed a two-run double to highlight the Barbs’ four-run first inning. Ciran was masterful after the first, allowing just three hits after the first inning, and six for the game.
Star DeKalb freshman Katie Kowalski (27-3) suffered the loss for the Barbs (31-5).
“You have to credit their hitters,” DeKalb coach Jeff Davis said. “I thought Katie pitched great for us. Ciran was tough. Her change up got tougher to hit the longer the game wore on.”
Ciran’s run-scoring single keyed a three-run St. Charles North second inning. Ashley Seering’s run-scoring single forged the game’s only tie at 4-4. Ciran’s lead-off double in the fourth helped the North Stars seize their first lead at 5-4.
St. Charles North put the game out of reach with a six-run, five hit explosion in the top of the seventh inning. Seering (3-for-4, 2 RBI) led off with a triple, scored on a subsequent wild pitch and also added a run-scoring single. Emily Watts (2-for-4, 2 RBI) added a critical run scoring single.
“We were all a little down after that first inning, but we knew it was just one and you play seven,” Watts said.
“It’s great that we have so many hitters on this team,” Ciran said. “That we were able to get the insurance runs and everything. I’ve never been on a team like this.”
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