St. Charles East’s comeback effort comes up short against Barrington in Class 4A supersectional

BARRINGTON — St. Charles East showed why its called the Fighting Saints.

With two outs in the seventh inning trailing 4-1 to Barrington in the Class 4A Barrington Supersectional, it was looking bleak with a walk from junior Hayden Sujack being the only base runner.

Yet after two consecutive two-out singles from junior Lexi Majkszak and senior Alyse Price, the Saints found themselves with the bases loaded and the go-ahead run being represented by senior Holly Smith at the plate.

And when when she lined a ball into the right-center field gap, Saints coach Jarod Gutesha was getting his arm ready to wave all of his girls around to home plate.

“Their right fielder (Maddie Van Ryn) was playing in and it was in the gap and that would’ve tied the game,” he said. “This place would have been on pins and needles.”

Yet it never happened.

Van Ryn ended up making a running catch to record the final out of the game, ending St. Charles East’s postseason run just a game short of the state tournament with a 4-1 loss to the Fillies, who advanced to their 13th state tournament in program history.

“That was tight, difficult and challenging every step of the way,” Barrington coach Perry Peterson said. “(East) played tremendous and we just kept moving along. That’s just playoff softball, you’ve just got to execute.”

The loss brings an end to the underdog run for the Saints (23-16), who were looking to advance to their first state tournament since 2019.

“If you look at the scoreboard, the only big difference was the runs,” Gutesha said. “They were able to capitalize on their scoring opportunities. It was a good game between two teams and two programs that have done a lot this season.”

Barrington took the lead in the bottom of the third inning on a two-run home run by Ohio State commit Reese Cullen, her 15th of the season. She later added an insurance run in the sixth inning after reaching on an error and scoring senior Mimi Cline. Lianna Maggio had the Fillies’ other RBI on a bloop single in the seventh.

Sujack drove in the Saints’ only run of the game in the top of the fifth inning. On a 2-1 count, the South Carolina commit ripped a home run over the right field wall to cut the deficit to 2-1. It was her team-leading 17th long ball of the season, and her first since May 21.

“It’s been a little while since I hit one, but I really wanted to help my team,” Sujack said. “I had the same approach each time, which was working on my load. But I didn’t even know I hit it over the right field wall. I don’t hit a lot of opposite field home runs, but I’ve been working on it.”

In her final game of her junior season, she finished going 3 for 3 with a walk, two singles and the solo home run. And after feeling like she hadn’t contributed as much as she wanted in the early stages, she said she wanted to do what it took to keep the underdog story alive.

“I felt like they’ve been helping me a lot recently, and I really just wanted to contribute,” Sujack said. “I’m incredibly proud of this team though, sometimes it’s just not your day. We had one less hit than them, we just didn’t string them together. That’s just going to happen sometimes in this game.”

Despite not getting the result that he wanted, Gutesha said he was very proud of the continued fight his team showed throughout the playoffs.

“What I told the kids is that this is a group that came together, played together and believed in each other more than I can remember,” Gutesha said. “The way they were together at the end, I knew it was going to be a fun run. Wish we could be playing in the state tournament, but I’ll always remember the way these girls played and the way they came together and the excitement that they brought to the field in this amazing season.”

https://www.shawlocal.com/kane-county-chronicle/2025/06/10/st-charles-easts-comeback-effort-comes-up-short-against-barrington-in-class-4a-supersectional/