Thanks to a rainout earlier in the week, Mother Nature gifted Kairi Lantz a game on her 18th birthday Thursday.

The Sycamore senior catcher gifted herself and Spartan softball teammates a two-run home run, her 11th of the year, in a 7-0 win over La Salle-Peru in an Interstate 8 Conference game in Sycamore.

Lantz’s home run in the third inning pushed the lead for Sycamore (16-3 overall, 7-1 Interstate 8) to 3-0 on the cold and rainy day and helped the Spartans bounce back from their first conference loss the day before, 4-1 to rival Kaneland.

The Spartans and Cavaliers (13-12, 1-6) were originally supposed to play their second conference match on Monday, but thunderstorms across the region pushed the game to today.

Lantz said it was a good thing playing on her birthday, and her performance backed it up. She also had an RBI single in the fourth.

“I was ready,” Lantz said, while eating a birthday cookie a teammate’s parent brought in for her and the Spartans. “I was like, what are we going to do. We’re going to win. We came in with a positive attitude as a team and that was really good.”

The Spartans got the only run they needed in the second when Riley Schuller walked, reached second on a single by Grace Caldwell, went to third when Camryn Knox was hit by a pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Adrianna Rosecrants.

After giving up four runs to Kaneland on Wednesday, Sycamore starter Bella Jacobs bounced back with a strong showing, throwing six shutout innings. She allowed one hit and walked three while striking out nine.

“Bella threw really well today in yucky conditions,” Sycamore coach Jill Carpenter said. “When she does that and we can put a crooked number up there for her, that works out well for us.”

The loss was the Cavaliers’ biggest conference defeat this season. Their previous biggest was a 10-7 home loss on Wednesday to Ottawa, a game that was 5-4 heading into the seventh. Their other four conference losses were in extra innings.

With the Cavs out of the conference race and voting for seeding in the sectional over, L-P coach Randy Huebbe rested ace Taylor Vescogni, not giving the Spartans a second look at her.

Sycamore and La Salle-Peru are in the same sub-sectional and may end up in either the Class 3A Geneseo or Sterling Regional together.

“It was a not-show-them-much kind of game,” Huebbe said. “We’re out of the conference race and the regional seeding is done. ... We didn’t want to throw our No. 1. I don’t want to say it was a throwaway game, but we knew it was going to be a tough meeting.”

Brie Ruppert started, and pitched 2-plus innings. After she gave up the home run to Lantz, she was relieved by Claire Boudreau. Ruppert allowed two hits, three runs, two earned, while striking out two and walking one.

Sydney Delphi pitched the final two innings, striking out one and not allowing a walk or a run.

Makenzie Chamberlain had two of the Cavs’ three hits. Caldwell had two hits for the Spartans and Addison Armstrong scored twice and had a two-run double in the fourth.

The Spartans have one conference loss with games against Morris and Ottawa next week, which each have two conference losses. Lantz said bouncing back after dropping the game to Kaneland changed the whole dynamic of the rest of the conference season.

“I really do think it was very, very important for us to bounce back the way we did,” Lantz said. “Yesterday was just a hard loss. I feel like we got a bit down on ourselves but we came back ready today.”

Carpenter said the Spartans didn’t play poorly against the Knights on Wednesday, but it just shows how deep the conference is. Five of the six teams - Sycamore (seventh), Morris (10th), Ottawa (11th), Kaneland (12th) and La Salle-Peru (13th) - are ranked in the Illinois Coaches Association Top 20.

“To be honest, the vibe was good after we were done,” Carpenter said. “At the end of the day, it’s just a game. We have to be able to move on quickly when you have to play another Top 20 team who is a lot better than what their record indicates.”