Sophomore pitcher Bella Lodico did everything she could to keep the tenth-seeded Rochelle varsity softball team competitive during the IHSA Class 3A Rock Falls Regional Semifinals against the second-seeded Sycamore Spartans on Tuesday.
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ROCK FALLS — Sophomore pitcher Bella Lodico did everything she could to keep the tenth-seeded Rochelle varsity softball team competitive during the IHSA Class 3A Rock Falls Regional Semifinals against the second-seeded Sycamore Spartans on Tuesday.
Trailing 2-0, Lodico and the Lady Hubs needed to escape two jams after Sycamore placed two runners in scoring position in both the second and third innings. A groundout ended the scoring threat in the second, while Lodico struck out one batter for the final out in the third. But the Sycamore offense proved too strong, as the Spartans rallied behind a four-run fifth inning to beat Rochelle by a score of 8-0. The Lady Hubs finished the season 6-23 overall.
“I thought our defense did a good job for the most part,” head coach Lindsay Suess said. “We had a few errors during the middle of the game that hurt us. I thought Bella got us out of some jams. She grew a lot this year and considering she’s only a sophomore, this is really good experience for her.”
Sycamore led off the bottom of the first inning with a double before reaching another runner on an error to take a 1-0 lead. An RBI groundout gave the Spartans a 2-0 advantage entering the second inning. Senior Maddi O’Rorke and junior Hannah Luxton singled for the Lady Hubs in the bottom of the second, but Rochelle was unable to convert on the scoring chance.
Two RBI singles up the middle gave Sycamore a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Spartans held Rochelle hitless over the third, fourth and fifth innings before senior Mandi Lamb lined a single up the middle in the top of the sixth inning. The Spartans scored their first run in the fifth inning on a wild pitch before a three-run single sealed Rochelle’s fate. The Lady Hubs went down in order to begin the seventh inning.
“Our message to the girls was to play clean and have good at-bats,” Suess said. “Sycamore can hit the ball well and they run the bases really well. They put pressure on us to make plays, and sometimes those plays didn’t happen, but we were still really proud of the girls… We played in a tough conference this year, and I think we ended our season well. We’ll have momentum going into next year.”
