For home games, senior catcher Hayden Sujack and each of her St. Charles East teammates have selected a personalized walk-up song for their at-bats.
With Saturday’s game tied 1-1 at Yorkville, Sujack found inspiration in an unlikely place. The Saints’ slugger, scheduled to lead off the top of the fifth inning, reacted to an oldie but a goodie.
Between innings, the public-address system played American folk song “Cotton Eye Joe,” recorded by the Swedish Eurodance group Rednex, that became popular worldwide in 1994.
Hitting shoes became dancing shoes for Sujack, who started doing line dance steps outside the batter’s box that were matched by senior pitcher Hannah Wulf standing inside the dugout.
“Me and Hannah, we played together on the Wasco Diamonds three or four years ago,” Sujack said. “We used to dance to that song before every game. Everyone knows it.”
Just like everyone knows Sujack, who began the game with 43 career home runs. The South Carolina commit followed that dancing interlude by hitting her second homer of the season.
Driving the ball over the fence in center field, Sujack sparked a two-run rally and gave visiting St. Charles East the lead for good in a 3-1 nonconference victory.
Earlier in the game, Sujack struck out and singled to left field off the end of her bat in her first time facing Yorkville pitcher Isabella Rosauer, a sophomore right-hander.
“She did a great job of spotting the ball,” Sujack said of Rosauer. “I really noticed it, going from out to in and really taking advantage of the strike zone they had. It was very impressive.”
Senior outfielder Lexi Majkszak drove in two runs with an RBI double in the third and an RBI single in the fifth for the Saints (2-0). Both runners reached on two of the four infield errors by the Foxes.
Rosauer struck out 10 in her four innings for Yorkville (1-3), wriggling out of several jams and teaming with senior reliever Ellie Fox to strike out 16.
Junior shortstop Alivia Lathen singled in the second inning, moved to third on an outfield misplay and then scored on Rosauer’s sacrifice fly to lead the Foxes offensively.
“Our pitchers did what they were supposed to do,” Yorkville coach Jory Regnier said. “They got ground balls, pop-ups, and that’s all we can ask. We have to pick up the stuff behind them.
“We’re working on that.”
Yorkville’s other two losses so far this season have been to Lincoln-Way East and Antioch.
“We’ve tried to get some solid programs in our nonconference schedule,” Regnier said. “These are the teams that really help us grow. We’re still figuring out the pieces and how we fit best together.
“We’ll get there.”
Sujack thinks the Saints, who advanced last season to the supersectional, will be even better this spring with addition of Wulf, also a South Carolina commit who transferred from Wheaton North after her family’s move.
Senior right-hander Makayla Van Dinther, who started and worked three strong innings, carried much of the pitching load last year for the Saints. She was also a teammate in the summer with Wulf and Sujack on the Chicago Cheetahs.
“She knows their stuff better than anybody in the world having worked with Wulf in pitching lessons, too,” St. Charles East coach Jarod Gutesha said of Sujack. “They’re all comfortable with each other and have their own code and lingo.”
Sujack’s walk-up song, though, will remain the same.
“It was ‘We Bring the BOOM!’ last year,” Sujack said of the social media hit on YouTube by A.J. and Big Justice, an Italian-American father-son duo from Boca Raton, Florida. “This year, they’ve made another one titled ‘Still Bringin’ It,’ so I thought that would be perfect.”
