St. Charles N. throttles Geneva

St. Charles North’s Alyssa Eby (right) is congratulated at home plate by her teammates after hitting a home run against Geneva in the fourth inning Tuesday. (Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com)

St. Charles North’s Alyssa Eby pumps her fist in circles as sprints to home plate after hitting a home run against Geneva in the fourth inning Tuesday. (Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com)

Geneva’s Rachel Fanella (10) congratulates teammate Katherine Geary (7) on scoring a run in the third inning Tuesday. (Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com)

Geneva’s Katherine Geary (7) slides safely into second base near St. Charles North’s Ashlyn Jozefowicz in the third inning Tuesday. (Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com)

St. Charles North’s Allison Moberg slides safely into third base in the second inning vs. Geneva Tuesday. (Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com)

St. Charles North’s Allison Hausl slides safely into third base in the first inning vs. Geneva Tuesday. (Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com)

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By John Lemon (jlemon@dailyherld.com)

It was Payback Tuesday for the St. Charles North softball team — in more ways than one.

First, the North Stars settled a score with Geneva in a big way, reversing a 10-3 loss two weeks ago by pounding out 23 hits on their way to a 12-4 win.

That victory effectively sealed an outright Upstate Eight Conference River title for St. Charles North (19-4, 13-2) — ending rival St. Charles East’s stay on top of the River the past two years.

“It’s nice to get it back,” said North Stars coach Tom Poulin whose team can put the finishing touches on the title this week against Larkin and Streamwood. “It’s not easy. The level of softball that’s around this area. A lot to be proud of to be able to check one of the boxes we had at the beginning of the year.”

The North Stars sent 10 batters to the plate in the first inning and had 6 hits, the start of an onslaught that ended with 8 of the North Stars’ 9 starters getting at least 2 hits.

Sophomore Alyssa Eby led the way going 4-for-5 with a double and her first home run.

“It was really exciting and to do it in such a big game for us is really cool,” Eby said. “Especially against such a good team we lost to last time. We were really hungry to win.”

Amanda James, Allison Moberg, Maddie Webb and winning pitcher Jillian Waslawski all delivered 3 hits, and Ashlyn Jozefowicz, Allison Hausl and Sam Hausl all had 2.

“We would love to bottle that up,” Poulin said. “Not too many people are doing that to Geneva. We had a nice day today. They were a little more focused. I could tell a difference.”

A dropped flyball by Geneva (20-9, 10-7) in the first inning led to 4 unearned runs against starter Alissa Dierks and a 4-0 deficit, but the Vikings battled back in the third with a 2-out, 2-run double by Rachel Fanella bringing them within 4-3 — a rally fueled by two North Stars errors.

Eby quickly got the momentum back on the North Stars’ side with her 2-run home run in the fourth, and Jordyn Wolfe made it 8-3 with a 2-run single.

“She’s (Eby) had a great season in the field and at the plate,” Poulin said. “She’s one of those kids you love to coach. Yes sir, no sir, whatever you want. She’s intelligent, she asks intelligent questions. She adds things to the discussion that are relevant and make sense. And she’s a real good teammate, she will do whatever is asked.”

James blasted a 2-run homer in the sixth, and Moberg ended the game with a diving catch in the bottom of the seventh.

Katie Keller led Geneva with 3 hits.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve given up 20 hits to anybody,” Geneva coach Greg Dierks said. “That 5-8 spot in their batting order really did a lot of damage to us. I thought Jillian bounced back from how the first game went and did a real good job. It was a tough day for us but we still want to finish strong heading into next week.”

St. Edward 18, Chicago Disney 0: Lindsay Zdroik struck out all 9 batters she faced and had 3 hits with a home run, a double and 6 RBI as St. Edward’s softball team rolled to a win over Chicago Disney Tuesday in the semifinals of the Class 2A DePaul Prep regional.

Emily Stapay added 3 hits and 3 RBI for the Green Wave (21-8) while Jackie Boyston had a double and 2 RBI. Jessy Kramp added a triple and pitched the final 2 innings with 5 strikeouts.

Alden-Hebron 7, Westminster Christian 3: Becca Fugiel had a double and an RBI and Taryn Boltz drove in a run but the Warriors (8-15) saw their season come to an end at the Class 1A Westminster regional.

Bartlett 13, East Aurora 0: Elyse Hickey allowed 2 hits with 5 strikeouts and 2 walks and had 3 hits with a triple and 2 RBI for the Hawks (20-8, 12-4) in this Upstate Eight Valley win. Also contributing were Caitlin Fippinger (2 hits, 2 RBI), Nina Pavell (3 hits, 2 RBI), Amber Pagan (2 hits, 2B, 2 RBI) and Alyssa Nowak (3 hits, 2 RBI).

Streamwood 7, Elgin 5: Melissa Hart (3 hits) cracked a 2-run walk off home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to lead Streamwood (11-16) to a UEC River win. Winning pitcher Jessica Daley, who had 13 strikeouts, also hit a 3-run home run for the Sabres and Celena Feliciano had a double. Jessica Rago had a double and a home run for Elgin (6-23, 3-13).

St. Charles East 11, Larkin 1: Jordan Hall allowed 4 hits with 9 strikeouts and no walks for the Saints (28-4, 14-3). Katie Kolb added 2 hits with a double and 3 RBI for SCE while Jordan Hieber had 2 hits and Maddie Candre and Cat Crossen had 2 RBI each. Haley Bohne had a double for Larkin and Alexa Urbanik added 2 hits and an RBI.

Cary-Grove 17, Woodstock 2: In a Fox Valley Conference crossover, Alyssa Gurgone (3 hits, RBI), Colleen Kaveney (2 hits), Brianne Prank (2 doubles, 3 RBI), Anna Whitaker (3 hits, 2 doubles, 3 RBI), Alea Charlier (2 hits, 2B, RBI), Emma Hill (2 doubles, 3 RBI), Victoria Beatty (2 RBI) and Nicollette Richardi (4 hits, 2B, RBI) led the Trojans (9-17) to the win. Krissy Weber went 3 innings and allowed 1 hit with 3 strikeouts and 1 walk to earn the win.

Jacobs 3, CL Central 1: Kerry Healy (2 hits) and Emily Borg (3 hits) had home runs for Jacobs (9-11) in this FVC crossover. Brittany Feldmann allowed 6 hits with 6 strikeouts and 2 walks to earn the win.

Huntley 12, Grayslake North 0: Hayley O’Mara (3 hits, 2 RBI) and Megan Baczewski each hit home runs for Huntley (21-8) in this FVC crossover win. Sofia Tenuta had 3 hits with a double and 2 RBI for the Red Raiders while Jessica Shields (2 hits, 2 RBI), Taylor Pacana (2 hits, 2B, 2 RBI), Caitlin Brown (2 hits), Autumn Kasal (2 hits) and Rylie Porretto (2 hits, 2B, 2 RBI) also contributed. Tiffany Giese allowed 3 hits with 7 strikeouts and 1 walk to earn the win.

Dundee-Crown 7, Hampshire 6: Winning pitcher Sydney Ruggles had 3 hits and 3 RBI to lead the Chargers (15-17) to an FVC crossover win. Andrea Conway added a double for D-C while Deanna Origer had 2 hits, Cady English 2 hits and an RBI, Maddie Pautz 2 hits with a double and an RBI and Jessica Sanders 2 hits and an RBI. Melissa Esparza had 2 hits and Renee Malecke 2 RBI for Hampshire (16-16).

Woodstock North 6, CL South 2: In another FVC crossover, Taylor Kassel had a double and a triple for Crystal Lake South (11-12).

ACC 8, Fenton 7: Paige Miller (2B, 2 RBI), Danielle Brown (2 hits) and Jessica Eallonardo each had doubles for Aurora Central (13-13, 7-4) in this Metro Suburban West win. Tressa Cwinski added 3 hits and 2 RBI for the Chargers and Jessica Kling had 2 hits and 2 RBI.

Kaneland 4, Rock Falls 0: Courtney Davis threw a 3-hitter and Morgan Weber added 2 hits with a triple for Kaneland (18-13) in this nonconference win. MaryLynn Clausen added 2 hits and 2 RBI for the Knights.