Softball: Hautzinger, St. Charles East shut out Elk Grove, advances to sectional final
Not a cloud was present as the sun shined down on the Class 4A Conant sectional semifinal between St. Charles East and Elk Grove.
That meant whoever won this game would have a beautiful atmosphere in which to celebrate moving onto Saturday’s sectional final against the winner of Thursday’s game between Lake Park and St. Charles North.
The Saints and Grenadiers traded zeros for two-and-a-half innings before the Saints broke through for a pair of runs. Then, the floodgates opened in the later innings, and the Saints will have a chance to advance to the St. Charles North supersectional after a pair of four-spots gave them a 10-0 mercy-rule victory in six innings.
“They played the game that they can play,” said Saints coach Jarod Gutesha. “We didn't change anything. We weren't trying to do anything different. And then, when you don't try to do anything different, when you are playing in a pressure situation, you're gonna feel comfortable where you are. They played comfortable, they played loose, they executed, they did all the things right to win a ballgame.
Before the Saints (22-12) truly got their bats going, senior pitcher Grace Hautzinger frustrated the Grenadiers (20-12), pitching out of situations with runners in scoring position during the first and third innings.
Hautzinger struck out eight batters and only walked leadoff hitter Alyia Garcia over six shutout innings of three-hit ball. She completely kept the Grenadiers’ four-through-nine hitters off the basepaths, not allowing a hit or walk in 14 at-bats.
“The first round through, I tried to work more inside and up,” said Hautzinger. “And then, the second round, we kind of went more outside changeup. And so, just mixing it up helps a lot."
Erika Gore also had eight strikeouts for the Grenadiers, but the Saints got on the board against her in the third when Alyse Price bunted for their first hit with one out, stole second and scored on an Addison Wolf RBI single.
Gore nearly limited the third-inning damage to one run, but Elk Grove couldn’t handle Hayden Sujack’s two-out fly ball to right while battling the sun, and Wolfe came around to score.
Five straight Saints reached against Gore in the fifth, leading to the first four-run inning, which was highlighted by a Sujack RBI double. Sujack also hit a two-run homer in the sixth, giving her four RBI.
The mercy rule came into effect when Sam Gaca doubled and promptly scored on a Katie Morgan RBI single. That wrapped another stretch in which five straight Saints got on base, this time against reliever Lexi Goeringer, who had moved over to the rubber from third.
All of the Saints' sixth-inning damage came with two outs and nobody on.
“I really enjoyed these kids as a group,” Grenadiers coach Ken Grams said. “I've had teams where they didn't get along. These guys were terrific. That's how I'm gonna remember these guys: That they succeeded because they cared about each other, and that's great to see as a teacher, as a coach.”