ROCHELLE — Lindsay Suess is always looking for her players to improve each day, and the first-year head coach of the Lady Hubs varsity softball team said she saw plenty of little improvements throughout the 2016-17 season.

Rochelle played its final game on Monday, falling to the Dixon Duchesses by a score of 5-1 in the IHSA Class 3A Regional Quarterfinals to finish with an overall record of 3-22. Numbers aside, however, Suess said she was encouraged by the effort her girls put forward this season.

“Overall we were really happy with how the girls played,” Suess said. “Something we’ve been striving for all season is small victories and I think we saw those happening. We’re really excited about the improvements the girls made and how we can take those improvements and build upon them next year.”

The Lady Hubs picked up three wins this season including an exciting 8-7 victory over the Plano Reapers on a walk-off home run by senior Paige Myroth, who was one of three Rochelle girls to hit a long ball this year (along with juniors Britney Salinas and Faith Roush). Roush led the team with a .378 average, while Salinas hit .304. Senior Christina Payton hit .286 with a team-high nine RBIs.

“We had some good quality at-bats but now we have to turn some of those at-bats into hits,” Suess said. “I think our juniors did a great job offensively and I’m excited to have those bats back next year… Britney and Christina did an excellent job for us and both of them hit the ball very well. Having Faith back in our lineup after getting cleared from some injuries, I think she and Britney will be our staples offensively.”

Senior Jenna Feltes served as Rochelle’s primary starter on the pitcher’s mound this season, and her efforts include a 12-strikeout performance in the Lady Hubs’ game against Dixon last week. Roush and junior Jessie Meyers also logged innings for the team, which Suess said got stronger on the defensive end as the season progressed.

“Our outfield did an excellent job toward the end of the year of keeping us in close games and helping us win,” Suess said. “Next year we’re just looking for more consistency defensively from some position players and making big plays.”

Rochelle will be graduating five seniors including Feltes, Myroth, Payton, Jovana DeLaTorre and Jaelyn Kammes. Other notable players who could return next year include juniors Bibiana Milan, Sarena Abdallah, Alex Ferrari, Alyssa Stechschulte and Teddi Hacaga. While Suess aims for more consistency from her group, she said she’ll continue to seek out the little improvements as the Lady Hubs enter the offseason.

“We always want to win more games but we want to continue to improve on what we’ve done this year,” Suess said.