The Lincoln-Way Central Knights will head out to challenge the St. Charles North North Stars at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Lincoln-Way Central sitting on nine straight victories and St. Charles North on four.
Lincoln-Way Central is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Illinois' top teams: Lincoln-Way West, who was ranked 18th at the time (Lincoln-Way Central was ranked first). The Knights came out on top in a nail-biter against the Warriors on Wednesday, sneaking past 7-6.
Lisabella Dimitrijevic made a big impact no matter where she played. She pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. She has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't given up a single earned run in five consecutive appearances. She was also big at the plate, going 2-for-5 with one home run and three RBI.
In other batting news, Mia Degliomini was incredible, going 3-for-4 with two stolen bases, one run, and one double. Another player making a difference was Ellie McLaughlin, who got on base in four of her five plate appearances with one run.
Meanwhile, while St. Charles North put up plenty of runs on Wednesday, the same can't be said for Batavia. The North Stars put the hurt on the Bulldogs with a sharp 13-0 win. Considering the North Stars have won nine games by more than five runs this season, Wednesday's blowout was nothing new.
Like Lincoln-Way Central, St. Charles North also got a great game from a two-way player: Paige Murray. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only two hits while striking out eight over five innings pitched. Murray was also solid in the batter's box, going a perfect 2-for-2 with one RBI.
In other batting news, St. Charles North got a massive performance out of Abby Zawadzki, who went 1-for-2 with one home run, three RBI, and two runs. Addy Umlauf was another key player, going a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs and two RBI.
St. Charles North was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .522. The last time their batting average was this high was back in April of 2024.
Lincoln-Way Central pushed their record up to 20-1 with the victory, which was their 16th straight on the road dating back to last season. The road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.6 runs on average over those games. As for St. Charles North, their record is now 15-4.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Thursday. Lincoln-Way Central hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.7 home runs per game. However, it's not like St. Charles North struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.9 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Lincoln-Way Central skirted past St. Charles North 1-0 when the teams last played back in May of 2022. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Knights since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
