Albers blasts two homers to launch Francis Howell North past Kirkwood for improbable district title

“She really just gets everybody going, she’s everybody’s hype man,” Knights senior shortstop Lucy Fajatin said.

Albers provided the hype and the punch Friday, blasting two opposite field home runs including a go-ahead grand slam as Francis Howell North defeated Kirkwood 10-6 to capture the Class 5 District 3 softball championship at Pattonville.

Francis Howell North (6-23), which endured an 18-game losing streak this season, won its first district title since 2017 and advanced to play District 4 champion Francis Howell (26-6) at 4 p.m. Wednesday in a state quarterfinal.

Howell North entered the district tournament with only three wins and having been shut out 10 times but found its offensive rhythm at the perfect time, scoring 31 runs in the three wins.

“The whole year we’ve been trying to do three things: have fun, get better with each game and be geared up for districts,” Howell North coach Bobby Dunahue said.

And Albers was the catalyst Friday.

Trailing 2-1 in the fourth inning, the Knights loaded the bases with two outs for Albers, who sent the first pitch she saw over the right-center field fence to put Howell North ahead to stay.

“I was just trying to look for a hit. Coach (Dunahue) told me to go up there swinging and it went over,” Albers said. “I think it really got the team going.”

Albers smacked an RBI double in a 3-run fifth inning and then gave the Knights an important insurance run with a solo home run to right field in the seventh to stake Howell North a 10-4 lead. Her power in driving the ball to the opposite field provided six RBI for the Knights.

“I’ve been working to get my mechanics right and its working,” Albers said.

With Albers as the engine, the rest of the bats followed. For the second consecutive game, at least seven Knights collected hits, including Fajatin, who went 3 for 4, and Piper Spinaio who hit her first career home run in the second inning to get Howell North on the scoreboard.

Spinaio and Fajatin also made important contributions defensively as Kirkwood (10-17) tried to mount a late-inning comeback. Spinaio made a beautiful sliding catch on a sinking line drive off the bat of junior Ryan Luby in the sixth inning, and Fajatin gobbled up two hard-hit ground balls in the seventh after the Pioneers put the first two runners on base.

“Before the first out (in the seventh) it was pretty nerve-wracking, but we just had to get through it one out at a time,” Fajatin said.

Junior pitcher Evie Kraus scattered seven hits in her 119 pitches, and she saved her best work for when Kirkwood smothered the basepaths. She dodged two walks in the second inning, induced a popup to leave the bases loaded in the fourth and forced another popup Fajatin handled to strand a pair of baserunners in the sixth.

“Today my drop ball and changeup were working well and a had a good defense behind me,” Kraus said.

And after keeping it together during a stretch where they faced some of the top teams in the state, Howell North has put it together in the postseason with strong pitching, good defense and a hot lineup led by Albers.

“We faced such hard pitching and coming into (districts) we were ready to attack and hit,” Albers said. “Our coaches told us that we could win districts and here we are, it’s crazy.”