Tuesday evening marked the fifth consecutive year that Rochelle and Dixon faced each other in the opening round of IHSA Class 3A Regional competition. The Lady Hubs were 1-3 over their last four postseason games against the Duchesses, but the Rochelle girls turned their fortunes around with a decisive quarterfinal victory this week.
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ROCHELLE — Tuesday evening marked the fifth consecutive year that Rochelle and Dixon faced each other in the opening round of IHSA Class 3A Regional competition. The Lady Hubs were 1-3 over their last four postseason games against the Duchesses, but the Rochelle girls turned their fortunes around with a decisive quarterfinal victory this week.
Rochelle pounced on Dixon early before the ninth-seeded Lady Hubs exploded for 10 runs in the bottom of the third inning to take a commanding lead over the tenth-seeded Duchesses. Freshman pitcher Bella Lodico tossed four shutout innings for Rochelle, and the Lady Hubs walked away with a 14-0 victory in five innings to earn their first postseason win since 2015. Rochelle improved to 5-20 overall and the Lady Hubs advanced to face No. 1 seed Sterling in the regional semifinals on Wednesday at Sterling High School.
“It was really exciting to win this game,” Lodico said. “I was throwing the ball well and my teammates were playing good defense behind me. We played well as a team and we just need to keep hitting well and playing good defense if we want to beat Sterling.”
Rochelle scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 3-0 lead over Dixon. Junior Macy Luxton plated Rochelle’s first RBI before junior Emilee Dueringer slapped a two-RBI single through the right side of the infield. Luxton added her second RBI of the game on a bases-loaded groundout in the bottom of the second inning to give the Lady Hubs a 4-0 advantage.
“It felt good to get the win,” Luxton said. “We work really hard on our hitting and our defense in practice.”
Rochelle opened the floodgates in the bottom of the third inning after Dueringer and senior Sarena Abdallah walked. Senior Jessie Meyers reached on a hit-by-pitch to load the bases before junior Maddi O’Rorke drew another hit-by-pitch from Dixon hurler Ashley Blythe to bring Dueringer home and put the Lady Hubs up 5-0.
The Duchesses recorded two outs at home plate on fielder’s choice grounders, but Rochelle continued doing damage. Lodico grounded an RBI single up the middle before Luxton drew another hit-by-pitch to give the Lady Hubs a 7-0 lead. Senior Faith Roush then drilled a three-RBI double to center, and Dueringer singled to keep the inning alive for Rochelle.
“We didn’t want to come in too confident because they had beaten us over the last two years,” Dueringer said.
Abdallah walked for a second time, and Meyers lined a single into left field to put Rochelle ahead 11-0. The Lady Hubs added three more RBIs on bases-loaded walks by O’Rorke, senior Britney Salinas and Lodico. Sophomore Ally Reish relieved Lodico on the mound in the fifth inning, and Reish held the Duchesses scoreless to complete Rochelle’s quarterfinal win.
Luxton and Roush each finished with three RBIs while Dueringer, Lodico and O’Rorke both totaled two RBIs. Meyers and Salinas each added one RBI.
