Softball: Paige Murray tosses no-hitter against Whitney Young to punch ticket to state tournament

ST. CHARLES – Back in 2022, St. Charles North put the ball in then-freshman Paige Murray’s hands in the seventh inning of a Class 4A softball supersectional to close the door against Whitney Young.

Her statline? No hits, no runs, three strikeouts.

Two years later, in another supersectional matchup against Whitney Young, the North Stars put the ball once again in Murray’s hands, this time to go all seven innings against the Dolphins.

Her statline? No hits, no runs, 14 strikeouts.

“It really feels like déjà vu,” Murray said. “It just feels amazing.”

Murray’s no-hitter, along with timely hits from Abby Zawadski and Juliana Kouba, helped the North Stars to a 4-0 victory to advance to their second state tournament in three years and their first since winning it all in 2022.

St. Charles North (24-6) will take on Oswego (28-9) in a Class 3A state semifinal at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Louisville Slugger Sports Complex in Peoria. Oswego defeated Minooka 5-2 in the Bloomington Supersectional.

“We just need to take each game one pitch at a time,” St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said. “They’ve already bought into taking it one at a time and resetting and refocusing before the next one. And if we do that, we’re going to end up accomplishing our goals that we set out at the beginning of the year.”

Murray’s 14 strikeouts were the most she’s had in the circle since sitting down 15 batters in a 9-0 win against Batavia on May 1. It was her third straight double-digit strikeout performance in the playoffs after striking out 12 in the sectional semifinals against Lake Park and 13 in the sectional finals against St. Charles East.

“I just had so much confidence heading into this game, especially after having amazing outings the last two games against really great teams,” Murray said. “Whitney Young is such a great team, so I knew I had to come out here and give it everything I’ve got.”

Murray didn’t know she had a no-hitter until after the game was over and the trophy was hoisted. One person who did know about it was assistant coach Thijs Dennison, who was calling pitches for Murray throughout the game.

As the game was reaching its end, Dennison said he started counting down the outs in his head to try to prevent the jinx.

“With two outs to go in the seventh, one of the people in the dugout told everyone she had a no-hitter and I told them to shut their mouth,” Dennison said. “I believe in that superstition where you don’t talk about it. But it was just unbelievable what she did out there today.”

Poulin said the duo of Dennison and Murray has been very strong throughout the season. With the stress of the postseason, the head coach said Murray has proved time and time again that no situation is too big for her.

“When she’s hitting her spots and getting ahead of the count like she did, teams are going to have a hard time manufacturing a run, let alone getting a hit,” Poulin said. “We’re seeing the best of her right now and she’s still got another year here.”

St. Charles North broke through in the fourth inning thanks to Zawadski. With two runners on base, the sophomore lined a single to center field. As the center fielder charged in for the ball, it skipped underneath her glove and all the way to the fence.

When she saw the ball go through, Zawadski had only one thing on her mind.

“I was just saying in my head, ‘You’ve got to make it home,’ ” Zawadski said.

Zawadski ended up coming across the plate standing up, scoring along with Ivy Gleason and Addy Umlauf to give the North Stars a 3-0 lead. Zawadski, who was coming off a three-strikeout game against St. Charles East in the sectional finals, said she knew she had to step up in that situation.

“It was pretty relieving, a nice deep breath,” Zawadski said. “I was a little angry after the last game, but I think I used that to try and fuel myself a bit and just let loose and have fun.”

Kouba got an insurance run for the North Stars in the fifth inning, slapping a bloop single into left field to bring home Maddie Hernandez to make it 4-0.

“We had the mindset where we needed to keep adding runs and getting some insurance,” Kouba said. “I just wanted to find a way to get it down and I saw the pitch and I got it. I was so happy.”