Softball: Alyssa Eby, North Stars use big fifth inning to turn tables on Saints

PALATINE – Jillian Waslawski enjoyed a front-row seat to Alyssa Eby's hitting heroics Tuesday from the on-deck circle.

Waslawski's take?

It's nothing new.

"I've played with Alyssa since I was eight years old; she's one of the best hitters I've ever seen," said Waslawski, a fellow St. Charles North senior. "I could tell from the beginning she was on."

Eby sure was on.

So were the rest of the North Stars.

Eby's run-scoring double opened the floodgates to St. Charles North's five-run fifth inning in the Class 4A Fremd Sectional semifinal, rallying from an early two-run hole.

The fourth-seeded North Stars went on to a 7-4 win over top-seeded St. Charles East, in doing so turning the tables on two regular-season losses to their crosstown rivals.

"It's great," said Eby, who later doubled in North's seventh run. "This is my senior year, we knew we weren't done yet. We knew if we played our best we could beat them."

The North Stars (19-9), who advance to meet the Fremd-Bartlett winner in Saturday's sectional final, know from experience.

Just like last year, North knocked out top-seeded East in sectionals after two regular-season losses. The Saints (25-7) swept this season's season series, 1-0 and 10-2, not that it mattered to North Tuesday.

"Every year is different, entirely different team, East is an entirely different team," Waslawski said, "but it still feels great."

The North Stars clearly went to school on East freshman pitcher Katie Arrambide, the Upstate Eight River Pitcher of the Year who 1-hit North in the teams' first game.

Arrambide weathered a scoreless first inning, but had to throw 30 pitches.

"We tried to limit our fly outs and popups off her rise," North coach Tom Poulin said. "We said if we didn't go after the high pitch, we'll be OK. I think sometimes if you make someone deal, if you make her throw a lot of pitches, it's going to benefit you."

Eby benefited from her first two at-bats.

Both were hit well, flyouts to center field.

Third time up, she found the sweet spot, doubling to the gap in right-center to finish off an eight-pitch at bat and score Grace Sobieski with the tying run.

"My first two at bats I was popping up to center field," Eby said. "I talked to [assistant] coach Thijs [Dennison] and he said 'think top half,' and that's what I did. I tried to get top half and the popups became line drives."

Waslawski followed with a first-pitch single to score Eby with the go-ahead run to make it 3-2. After an infield popup that East dropped, Grace Quinn drilled a two-run double to make it 5-2.

A fifth run scored on East's second of three errors, as the North Stars sent nine batters to the plate.

"We finally at the plate connected," said winning pitcher Waslawski, who was 3-for-4 at the plate. "It was a long time coming."

The Saints jumped out a 2-0 lead in the second inning Tuesday on Hannah Cozzi's RBI double and Krista Sbarra's RBI single, and tacked on two more runs in the sixth.

But East couldn't overcome North's big fifth.

"Big game, they obviously had some big hits. Hats off to them," East coach Jarod Gutesha said. "They took advantage of a few situations."

Eby continued her big day in the sixth, smoking a double off the leftfield fence to score Sobieski.

She learned her lesson from previous exchanges with Arrambide.

"The first time, at least me, I was swinging at the rise ball and she got me on the changeup," Eby said. "Our approach this time was to swing at nothing above the belly button. That worked for us."

Gutesha, big picture, held firm to fond memories of the season.

"This team has been awesome," Gutesha said. "What they did as a group, the diversity of the ages, with the way the seniors brought the younger kids together and turned it into the year we had. It didn't go our way today, but it's still a great season."