Softball: Wheaton North slugs four home runs to down St. Charles East
Wheaton North coach Allie Ravanesi doesn’t always like to depend on the home run ball.
While the Falcons have proven that they know how to do it, recording 10 dingers in the team’s first 13 games, Ravanesi knows that it can only do so much in the DuKane Conference, especially against teams like St. Charles East.
But when the two programs faced off on Monday, she was a little more OK with some balls going over the fence.
Seniors Ava Hartnett and Reagan Crosthwaite each blasted pair of solo home runs to provide the offense as the Falcons secured a 4-1 victory over the Saints.
“We only had seven hits and four of them were home runs,” Ravanesi said. “I’ll take that all day. A lot of the time, against these sort of teams, it’s the crack of the bat that makes the difference.”
Hartnett got the scoring going for the Falcons (12-2, 2-0 DuKane Conference) in the second inning with a solo shot to center field. It was the first career home run for the three-year varsity player.
“It was a pretty good feeling,” Hartnett said. “I just saw a pitch that I liked and hit it.”
Two innings later, she would add another home run to her career total, this time on a shot to left field to lead off the inning.
“I loved it. I was just so excited for her,” Ravanesi said. “She’s just kind of a silent killer for us. She just sneaks in there and does her job and performs when needed.”
Crosthwaite’s two solo home runs came to start off both the third and fifth innings, bringing the Brown commit’s season total up to nine on the season.
The home runs were more than enough for South Carolina commit Hannah Wulf. The junior finished with a career-high 16 strikeouts in the contest and allowed just three hits and one run through seven innings.
“She was just lights out,” Ravanesi said. “Especially against another good DuKane Conference team
Wulf carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before fellow South Carolina commit Hayden Sujack recorded the first hit of the game for the Saints (9-8, 0-2) with a triple into the right-field corner.
And after striking out to her in the previous at-bat, Sujack was hyped to get revenge against her club and future college teammate.
“I knew I had to get a different approach, so I grabbed a new bat and tried to get a different feel,” Sujack said. “My dad always tells me to ‘Grip it and rip it,’ so I tried to do that and poke one out there so I could do something to help the team.”
Lexi Majszak drove in courtesy runner Taylor Grendzinski later in the inning with a single up the middle for East’s only run of the game. The Saints bought the tying run to the plate twice in the inning, but could not convert.
“We had some base runners and put the pressure on them,” Saints coach Jarod Gutesha said. “We generated some offense, and that’s all you can ask for.”
Despite taking the loss in the circle, junior Makayla Van Dinther put up a solid outing, allowing seven hits while striking out eight over her six innings of work.
“I thought she did a nice job for us,” Gutesha said. “It stinks to be on the other side of a game like this and lose it, but it could have easily gone the other way. We’re playing competitive, and I’m confident that we’ll get it rolling.”