Addison Dierschow shakes off DeKalb’s big 1st, pitches Sycamore to rain-shortened rivalry win

DeKALB – Addison Dierschow left a pitch up and away to Alaynna Johnson, allowing the DeKalb designated player to slug the ball for a three-run triple to stake DeKalb to a lead early in the third inning.

It was the last mistake Dierschow made.

The Sycamore starter retired 13 of the last 16 DeKalb batters, seven on strikeouts, as the Spartans came back for an 11-3 win in the rain-shortened rivalry game on Friday.

“It feels really good. We are all really close with that team and we know how good that team is this year,” Dierschow said. “We all came in fired up and ready to go to play them and have it be a good game.”

Rain started to fall lightly in the bottom of the fourth in which Dierschow still struck out the side.

It started to rain more steadily in the top of the fifth, in which the Spartans (18-2-1) scored three times to break the game open. Adi Armstrong and Ellison Hallahan had RBI doubles in the frame.

And by the bottom of the fifth it was raining hard, with Dierschow allowing just a walk. After the game became official after five full innings, the umpires called it due to the weather.

“She started to hit her spots better,” Sycamore coach Jill Carpenter said. “When your team gives you that three-run cushion and you feel like they’re going to continue to do that for you, it allows you to settle down as a pitcher.”

Dierschow got the first two DeKalb batters in the top of the first before Kennedy Latimer singled, then Izzy Aranda and Cassidy Cavazos drew back-to-back walks. That’s when Johnson hit her rocket just out of the reach of a diving Hallahan in left.

The triple gave the Barbs (9-10) a 3-1 lead heading into the second after the Spartans scored in the first. Addie McLaughlin started things off with a single, stole second and moved up an extra base on an error. Armstrong brought her home with a sacrifice fly to right.

“Our team is a really good offensive team, so I had full confidence in our lineup to be able to come back,” Dierschow said. “Even if things went bad, Bella Jacobs was warming up ready to go and I know she would have my back out there.”

The Spartans took the lead back in a five-run third. They had three hits in the inning - RBI singles by Ema Durst, Kait Williams and Brighton Snodgrass. The Spartans also benefited from five walks and two wild pitches, plus a pair of DeKalb errors helped an unearned run cross the plate as Sycamore took a 6-3 lead.

In the fourth, Durst launched a two-run home run to push the lead to 8-3. The Spartans have homered in 17 straight games. Carpenter said she was happy to see the team produce a big inning without a home run.

“We’re not always going to win it on a bomb,” Carpenter said. “We need to be able to string a few singles together, things like that and make sure walks still matter, and wild pitches and take advantage of those when we have them.”

In the fifth inning, Latimer was injured on a play trying to apply a tag to a runner at third. She hurt her knee and had to leave the game.

DeKalb coach Erica Swan said she was proud of how her team persevered and how strong the Barbs played through the first couple of innings.

“That kind of just took the wind out of our sails a little bit,” Swan said. “Just a couple things going the wrong way and struggled to come back after that. Overall, I think those first 2½, three innings I was really proud of the way we faced Sycamore.”

The Spartans had 11 hits in the game. McLaughlin, Durst and Kairi Lantz had two hits each. Durst drove in three while Armstrong and Kait Williams had two each.

Dierschow allowed four hits and three earned runs in five innings, walking three and striking out eight.

Carpenter said she was happy to see her team not get down after falling down early to a young DeKalb team she said is going to be very good.

“We’ve had to work from behind before and I don’t think there’s any sense of panic with this group,” Carpenter said. “We’ve proven we can come back when we go down. The offense just got it going, and when you do that it helps everybody settle down.”