Hayden Sujack just wanted to get something to hit.

With St. Charles East trailing Marist heading into the bottom of the fourth inning in a Class 4A supersectional in Rosemont, the senior was looking to provide a catalyst for the team.

And on the third pitch she saw, she did what she does best.

She brought the boom.

“I was just sitting in the at-bat circle and just telling myself, ‘Give me something, please,’ ” Sujack said. “I just wanted to help out my team in any way that I could. We were down a bit by that point, but there was still a possibility, so it was great.

“That’s what I’m here to do, and I’m happy that I can represent my team like that.”

Her solo blast in the fourth inning, her career-high 18th of the season, was not enough in the end as the Saints had their season come to an end Monday with a 10-1 loss to the RedHawks.

“The leadership she brings is one of [the best] I’ve seen in 18 years of softball,” Saints coach Jarod Gutesha said. “She does everything, whether it’s her play on the field or her leadership or just her presence. She’s been great for us, and we’re going to miss her.”

The loss brings an end to another solid postseason run for the Saints, who finished the year with a 31-9 record and were looking to make it to the state tournament for the first time since 2019.

“I just wanted to come out here and get to state as a Saint,” Sujack said. “I wanted to go with (pitcher) Hannah (Wulf) this year, and I wanted to go with my ‘Kiwis’ (last year’s seniors) last year. I just wanted to do it with the whole team, and not being able to, that’s just really hard.”

Marist took the lead in the bottom of the third inning off of a pair of two-out RBI singles from Layla Termundi and Layla Peters. One inning later, the RedHawks would plate four, highlighted by a two-run infield single from Madison Rogers, to give them a 6-0 lead.

But even with the early deficit and Marist pitcher Soleil Tate striking out seven batters over the first three innings, Sujack’s blast to left-center was not a surprise to Gutesha.

“She’d probably have 75 home runs in her career if everyone actually pitched to her this season,” Gutesha said. “But she absolutely mashed that ball. I don’t know what the stats were on it, but the wind was blowing, and the way she hit it, that was fun to watch.”

The home run was historic for the South Carolina commit in a few ways. The solo shot was her 60th of her career, making her just the fourth Illinois softball player to reach that career mark. It also was the first run Marist had given up during the entire postseason, who had won via mercy rule in each of its first four postseason contests.

“I did a lot of film watching and spent a lot of the day in the cages hitting,” Sujack said. “But coming into this game I was pumping everyone up, because I didn’t want to be done. But it happened, and now I have other things to go to.

“But I feel more bad for the girls who aren’t going on to play in college.”

The RedHawks added on four more in the top of the seventh before Tate ended the game with her 13th strikeout.

The Saints’ 31 wins were the second-most in school history, with a 32-win season back in 2016 being the most.

“What the seniors like Hayden, Hannah, Makayla Van Dinther and Lexi Majkszak did for this program this year, that’s the biggest story for us,” Gutesha said. “A coach can only do so much. It takes senior leadership to get this far, and they did that for us this year. They’re a huge testament of why we’re here, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”