Julianna Kouba wasn’t fully fazed by her final at-bat Wednesday.

With St. Charles North having the go-ahead runner on second base and another on first in a tie ball-game against St. Charles East, the junior stepped to the plate with a chance to give them their first lead of the game.

And while she stressed about an AP Physics test from earlier that day, she had a different approach in the nail-biting situation.

“I just wanted to have fun,” Kouba said. “That’s a big thing for me. I know everyone behind me is cheering me on and I knew I had to hit it to the right side becuase that’s the mentality I want to have. But I just wanted to hit the ball hard and have fun.”

The approach ended up working to her advantage, as Kouba slipped a ball past the second baseman that scored two runs, helping the North Stars secure a 3-1 victory to secure the regular-season softball sweep of the Saints.

“She is a tough out, and that’s who you want in a situation like that,” North Stars coah Tom Poulin said. “You feel really good when it’s her opportunity with the game on the line to give you some runs. She never has a bad at-bat, she puts the ball in play, and she’s not an easy out at all.”

Both of the North Stars’ (18-1 overall, 9-1 DuKane) wins over their crosstown rivals were decided in the final inning of play, with the team also securing a 1-0 victory in eight innings back on April 17.

“These are always the tough games that are hard to get through,” Kouba said. “But whoever has the most hits and opportunities usually gets the win, and that’s just what happened here.”

Jordyn McBride tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth inning on a pair of errant pickoff throws. And after getting back even with the Saints, it gave a lot of confidence to North Stars pitcher Carrigan Rich in the circle.

“I knew that we have a great offensive-minded team, so I knew that we would come back eventually,” Rich said. “I just had a lot of confidence after we tied it back up.”

Besides letting up a run in the first inning, the South Dakota commit finished the game allowing just seven hits and one run while striking out four in her seven innings of work.

“I was just really proud of her, especially since this was such a pressure-filled game,” Poulin said. “She showed a lot of toughness after that first inning. She locked back in, stayed down in the zone, moved the ball well and also used her defense. And the defense had her back in this game.”

Despite the loss, the Saints (22-7, 8-3) got a gutsy effort from South Carolina commit Hannah Wulf in the circle. The senior allowed five hits and zero earned runs in her seven innings and also struck out 12 batters, marking her fifth double-digit strikeout effort in the last six games.

“It doesn’t matter who she pitches against, she’s thrown well, and she did that again in this game,” Saints coach Jarod Gutesha said. “And that’s really good to see, because there are plenty of big games we still have left in the season.”

Fellow South Carolina commit Hayden Sujack gave the Saints an early lead on a solo home run in the top of the first inning before getting intentionally walked in her final two at-bats, including to represent the tying run in the bottom of the seventh. Freshman Brynn Maple added three hits right behind Sujack in the order.

“That home run was fun to see,” Gutesha said. “For Hayden to get that going and provide that energy showed. Our bats were on it, and we had a ton of good at-bats. They just had the ball bounce their way and they got the runners on when they needed it at the end.”