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Katie Arrambide received a pleasant and unexpected surprise this week.
Arrambide, St. Charles East’s senior pitcher and a Harvard commit, on Wednesday was named St. Charles East’s Female Athlete of the Year.
“It was so cool. I was a little surprised because I only play one sport here,” Arrambide said. “It’s usually a multi-sport athlete. I was excited and happy.”
Arrambide may just play one sport, but she’s proving to be double trouble for opponents on the softball diamond.
She threw back-to-back no-hitters last week, and struck out 12 batters Monday in a win at Wheaton North. Arrambide also homered in three straight games this week, at Wheaton North, Lake Park and Glenbard North, as the Saints (17-3) ran their winning streak to 10 straight.
Arrambide, who is hitting .314 on the season with five homers and 19 runs batted in, credits her success in the batter’s box to hitting work put in during the offseason. She did private work with hitting coach Marc Mantucca, and in a twist from past years did a live training session with pitchers throwing to hitters for eight weeks leading up to the season.
“He’s awesome, a game-changer,” Arrambide said. “The stuff has been been there, mechanically my swing has never been atrocious. Where I am starting to see progress and production on the offensive side is with my approach and mindset being more aggressive than in the past and having the confidence that it’s my senior year – I have nothing left to prove. Just trust the work I did in the offseason.”
Arrambide’s homer at Lake Park was a big one, a two-run shot in the top of the sixth to break a 0-0 tie. Izzy Howe did the rest, striking out 11 in a two-hit shutout.
“I’m a pitcher, I know what it’s like to go out every inning, you’re doing well and you need your offense to just score a couple runs for you,” Arrambide said. “Right before I went up to bat Izzy asked ‘Can you get a run’ and I said ‘You’re working so hard, I got you girl.’ We needed to do this for Izzy, because she’s been working so hard.”
Arrambide and Howe have indeed become quite the dynamic duo in the circle.
Entering Thursday’s action Arrambide was 6-1 with a 1.5 earned run average and 91 strikeouts in 50.2 innings. Howe, for good measure, also had a 6-1 record with a 1.3 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 52 innings. Howe has allowed four runs, only one earned, over her last 38 innings heading into Thursday, beat then-No. 1 ranked Lincoln-Way Central last Saturday and shut out Lake Park Wednesday.
Madelyn Rouse, the Saints’ third pitcher, is 4-1 with a 3.0 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 25.1 innings.
“I’m so proud of Izzy, she is doing so well,” Arrambide said. “That Lake Park game wasn’t the first time she blew us away. That Lincoln-Way Central game, I threw three innings and she threw the last seven. Her confidence between this year and the last time is such an increase. I’m excited to see where she’s going to go from here.”
Howe made nine starts as a freshman for the 2019 team, going 7-1 with a 3.5 ERA and 64 strikeouts. She said she goes once a week to work with pitching coach Jillien Waldron to help with her spin pitches, velocity and hitting her spots.
Howe said she re-watched St. Charles East’s first game with Lake Park, a 10-6 loss that Arrambide started, to gain insights on where to pitch Lake Park’s top hitters.
“I’ve been practicing a lot more than I used to, trying to gain speed and improve my movement pitches,” Howe said. “My movement pitches and my velocity has got a lot better since [the 2019 season].”
Arrambide said having multiple pitchers is a nice thing to have not only during the season but also the postseason, an extra threat for the Saints. Surprisingly enough, Arrambide didn’t even know she was throwing no-hitters in the moment last week.
“The fact that I didn’t realize that I had those no-hitters tells me I’m a little more goal-focused than stat-focused,” Arrambide said. “I’m feeling nice and loose and refreshed. I love the way our pitching is working together.”
North Stars return to field:
St. Charles North returned to the playing field Thursday after a COVID-19 quarantine, dropping a 3-2 loss at Wheaton North.
Ava Goettel threw a complete game, allowing just one earned run. At the plate Sophia Olman hit a two-run home run and Megan Bauwens had two doubles.
“It was great to get out there and compete,” North Stars coach Tom Poulin said. “I was very proud of our girls. We made some mistakes that didn’t help our cause and left too many on base in scoring position, but we also had a ton of quality at bats and made some incredible plays in the field. We looked like a talented team still in the early portion of the season, developmentally. Which is what we are. We had a run taken off the board incorrectly, but we were still in a position to win.”
The North Stars will be busy the next two weeks, with 14 games scheduled between now and the end of the regular season May 29.
“We are excited to continue on and take on the challenge of playing every day except Sunday’s,” Poulin said. “It’s going to be memorable. This is a high character group of quality teammates who believe in themselves. That’s a great combination.”
State championship game rematch next week
A huge game to mark on the calendar is next Friday, when St. Charles East hosts Huntley. It will be a rematch of the 2019 Class 4A state championship game, which Huntley won 1-0. It could also be a matchup of two of the state’s best pitchers, Arrambide and Mississippi State recruit Briana Bower of Huntley – who both were on the mound in the 2019 game.
“For sure these games in a normal year are high energy, a lot of anticipation,” Arrambide said. “I think being a senior, those games are all the more important. We feel that mix of pressure and excitement. It’s such an amplified feeling. We try to stay present in the moment but we definitely know those games are coming up.”