BELVIDERE — It’s hard to find a rhythm when five of your first six softball games of the season are cancelled due to bad weather, but the Lady Hubs varsity team bounced back from a tough loss to Rockford Boylan this past Wednesday, defeating Genoa-Kingston by a score of 6-2 for its first victory of the year.

The contest was the first of two games Rochelle played on the road this past Saturday, with the Lady Hubs falling 7-0 to Belvidere in the second game. The girls move to 1-2 overall, and head coach Lindsay Suess said the win is giving her team a big confidence boost.

“It was exciting to get the first win under our belts,” Suess said. “The girls were really excited and they played really well… I think they’re feeling very confident and excited for the season, and any time you can pick up an early win, it can only help in the long run.”

The Lady Hubs carried over their offensive momentum from Wednesday’s contest against Boylan, building an early lead over Genoa-Kingston behind senior Paige Myroth and junior Faith Roush, who combined for six hits in the game with Myroth going 3-for-3 and Roush nearly completing the cycle with a single, a double and a triple.

“We definitely need their bats coming through in all the games we play,” Suess said. “I think they’re just versatile players. They can hit the ball, they can pitch and they can play in the field. It’s just nice to have some well-rounded athletes on our team.”

Senior Christina Payton went 2-for-3 to aid the Rochelle offense in the victory. The Lady Hubs held Genoa-Kingston to just two runs, with senior Jenna Feltes taking the mound and throwing the ball well after battling through Wednesday’s game against Boylan. Feltes struck out three batters en route to her first victory of the season as a pitcher.

“It was really promising to have her come back and pitch well,” Suess said. “I think that’s what we’ve expected from her and that’s what we’re going to build upon. We were really excited to see her bounce back and have a great game.”

While the bats were finding the ball against the Lady Cogs, Rochelle had a hard time barreling anything up against Belvidere. Combined with a few tough plays in the field, the Lady Hubs were unable to gather much steam in their second game of the day.

“The biggest difference was that we just weren’t putting the bat on the ball,” Suess said. “We weren’t making good swings which is something we’ve talked about and is something we’re going to work on, and we have a few errors in the infield which cost us some runs.”

The Lady Hubs were scheduled to face Harlem on Monday, but the game was postponed to Thursday because of rain. Rochelle is also slated to play Ottawa on Tuesday before battling Rockford Guilford on Wednesday and Sycamore on Friday. All games will be played on the road.