Kane County Chronicle Softball notes: St. Charles East’s Grace Hautzinger ‘getting stronger’ for end of season run

ST. CHARLES – Watching Grace Hautzinger amass 21 strikeouts over her last two starts, one wouldn’t likely recognize her as a pitcher that hasn’t been quite full strength at this stage of the season.

The St. Charles East junior pitcher had a “stabbing and throbbing pain” in her pitching arm just three games into the season. After missing approximately four or five starts and two weeks of action, Hautzinger returned April, 8 and is still working her way back into top form.

“Honestly, I’m not satisfied with where I’m at right now. I started off the season battling some arm issues for the first time in my career,” Hautzinger said. “....I’ve been getting stronger and that’s leading to my strikeout numbers to go up.”

Hautzinger had eight strikeouts in a 2-0 loss to St. Charles North and 13 in a 1-0 loss to Wheaton Warrenville South in the last week.

“I’m looking forward to being completely healthy soon, and really just being able to go at teams with my best stuff,” she said.

One Saints teammate that has performed notably effective at the plate in recent games is junior Sam Beers. Beers managed to work a double-digit pitch at-bat against St. Charles North ace Ava Goettel last Monday.

Beers later forced a walk in the seventh inning of that game to set the table for what could’ve been a tying run in Nikki Johnston’s last at-bat that ultimately ended after she was ruled to be out of the batter’s box for her swing.

“I‘ve played softball with Sam since I was seven or eight years old,” Hautzinger said. “She’s always been a competitive teammate. Her at-bats against North were a couple of the best I’ve seen from her. A 12 pitch at bat is insane and a great seventh inning two-out walk almost led to our comeback.”

“I know she has a strong mindset and is always believing in herself,” Hautzinger continued. “She is always a team player, and wants the best for everyone else, but she also has a ton of talent herself.”

The Saints (8-8-1, 2-2), meanwhile, are looking to rebound for what can still potentially become a deep postseason run.

“I believe in this team, we have a boat load of talent,” Hautzinger said. “However, we have not been as consistent as any of us would like to be. I know our best softball is still ahead of us, and we can make a good long run for the rest of the season, including postseason.

“We want to be playing our best softball then,” she continued. “We all agree as a team that we would rather win our last 10 games than our first 10. We need to come together and make it happen because once we do we will be a dangerous team to face.”

St. Charles North freshman SS Ginger Ritter fits right in

Starting at shortstop as a freshman mere months after St. Charles North won the Class 4A state title is a tall task for anyone to slide into.

Ginger Ritter, however, seized her opportunity in grand style.

“As a freshman coming onto a state championship team, there is a lot of pressure. But I have never been on a team where everyone wants to see the best out of me and believes in me so much, until now,” Ritter said. “The team bond between every player is so special and everyone has each other’s back, no matter what.”

“The culture is unreal as well, coming onto a team where most other team’s goal is to beat you is crazy,” she continued. “I personally think that we already have such a tight bond that everyone knows we will be there for each other.”

In 11 games played, Ritter is sporting a .355 batting average, has eight RBIs and smoked her first varsity home run last week in a win over Lake Park. At shortstop, Ritter was responsible for the first three outs of the game and continues to ascend in the final weeks of the regular season.

“I do pride myself on my range at shortstop, but I think my mechanics overall are my strongest suit,” Ritter said. Coach Thijs [Dennison] has been working with me a ton on my fundamentals during practice, and it’s helping a lot. Also, I think my knowledge and awareness of situations are what plays a role to make me the best version of myself at shortstop.”

“I also have a really great third baseman, Julia Larson, by my side to hype me up before each pitch and get me ready,” Ritter continued. “We communicate a lot about our positioning from pitch to pitch in order to be the strongest left side [of the infield] in the state.”

Having the opportunity to play with her older sister, Skyla, is “a very special thing for us and our family.”

“I love getting the opportunity to play on the same team as Skyla...She always pushes me to be the best that I can be, and because we are so close she always knows what to say to me if I need to reset,” Ritter said. “She also is my Hype Woman. Before every game, she gives me a pregame talk about how great I am and how much she believes in me. She also plays my favorite hype songs in the car before the game to get me going.”