ROCHELLE — Paige Myroth loves to swing at the first pitch, and the Lady Hub senior’s aggressive approach came in quite handy during her final at-bat in Monday’s nonconference game against the Plano Reapers at Rochelle Township High School.

With the game tied in the bottom of the eighth inning, Myroth cut and missed on a fastball low in the zone to fall behind 0-1 in the count. But the senior bounced right back, taking the next pitch deep to left field for her first home run of the season and lifting the Lady Hubs to an 8-7 victory over the Reapers to snap a five-game losing streak. The win bumps Rochelle’s record up to 3-20 overall.

“She was giving me pretty decent first pitches throughout the day so I’ve been keeping my eye on them,” Myroth said. “It was amazing. I feel like this is what we’ve been building up to all season and I’m so grateful that we finally had this great of a game.”

Plano jumped ahead early in the game, scoring one run in both the third and fourth innings before tallying three more in the top of the fifth to take a 5-0 lead over Rochelle. The Lady Hubs struck back in the bottom of the fifth, though, with junior Bibiana Milan grounding out to first base and plating senior Jenna Feltes for Rochelle’s first run.

Myroth crossed home plate on an RBI double by junior Britney Salinas to make it a 5-2 game, and senior Christina Payton followed up with an RBI double of her own to put the Lady Hubs within two runs. The Reapers responded with two runs in the top of the sixth inning, but Rochelle rallied a second time, with Myroth notching a two-run single to make the score 7-5.

Feltes, who took the mound in relief of junior Jessie Meyers, shut Plano down in order to start the seventh inning. Trailing by two runs in the final half of regulation, the Lady Hubs earned one back when junior Teddi Hacaga tripled to left, and Rochelle tied the game with two outs on a pinch-hit single to right field by junior Sarena Abdallah in her first at-bat since being sidelined with a concussion.

“It was really nerve-racking but my teammates were doing a good job of picking me up,” Abdallah said. “It just felt good to be back out there and it was nice to give the team a little boost. I think that’s what Rochelle ball is all about… We went through a slump over the middle of the season but it was nice to show this crowd who we really are.”

The Lady Hubs held Plano down in the top of the eighth inning, setting the stage for Myroth’s big at-bat with one out in the bottom of the frame. With just two regular season games remaining before the team’s IHSA Class 3A Regional Quarterfinal game against the Dixon Duchesses, the girls are hoping to keep the positive momentum going when they face Dixon on Tuesday in a regional preview.

“It’s pivotal for the success of the team,” Myroth said. “This is exactly what we needed going into the final part of our season.”