Prep softball: Sycamore closes regular season with win over rival DeKalb

DeKALB – Saturday’s rivalry game between Sycamore and DeKalb, a 12-2 win for the Spartans, spotlighted what each team is dealing with pitching-wise heading into the postseason.

For the Spartans, it meant trotting out three pitchers just a couple of hours after playing Yorkville in Sycamore and getting strong outings out of all three, keeping arms fresh for when the Class 3A Sycamore Regional starts Tuesday against Dixon.

“I think we’re feeling really good. We’re going to take this and take it to our next games.”

—  Faith Heil, Sycamore softball

For the Barbs, it meant having the team’s only healthy pitcher, Jaelyn Latimer, get hurt, leading to an emergency stint from Hazel Montavon to finish the game.

“Hazel has been really great for us,” DeKalb coach Haley Albamonte said. “This is the second year in a row I told her she’s not going to have to pitch for us, and here she is. She’s not a pitcher by trade. It’s just something she’s willing to do because she’s selfless. She does not have any formal training. If we have to go to her we can.”

Albamonte said she hopes Latimer is able to return Wednesday for the Class 4A DeKalb Regional opener against Auburn. Latimer has been the main pitcher after Ayla Gould broke her hand earlier in the year. Latimer was battling through back problems earlier in the season, and the two pitchers have only been healthy at the same time for about a week and a half for the Barbs (5-17).

After surrendering six runs in the top of the first, Latimer allowed one earned run the rest of the way until a shot off the bat of Kairi Lantz got her in the side, chasing her from the game.

“That first inning, Sycamore is coming off that big win against Yorkville, so they really have the momentum,” Albamonte said. “Jae and I have talked about this, it usually takes her an inning or two to settle in. So I’m hoping that we work that kink out if she’s able to be on the bump come Wednesday. After they scored six in the first we held them nicely. Jaelyn found the groove and was hitting her spots.”

The Spartans (24-10) had no bus lag in coming over from Sycamore fresh off a 6-5 win against the Foxes, coming from behind in the bottom of the sixth for that win. Kaitlyn Williams had an RBI double, Lantz drove in two on a single, Faith Heil had an RBI triple and Addie McLaughlin, who started the game with a single and eventually scored, drove in run with a double.

Sycamore pounded out 13 hits in the game, including a 3-for-4 performance by Heil that included three RBIs and three runs scored.

“It feels good,” Heil said. “Obviously, DeKalb is our big rivalry. We were all very excited on the way here to come play them.”

The Spartans have been rotating between Alyssa Wilkerson, Bella Jacobs and Addison Dierschow all season. All three pitchers went in each game Saturday. After Jacobs got the win against Yorkville, Wilkerson got the start and the win in the DeKalb game.

McLaughlin had three hits for the Spartans. Lantz had three hits, drove in two runs and scored three times. Wilkerson added two hits.

Sycamore coach Jill Carpenter said under normal circumstances she’d be worried about the energy level of her team playing back-to-back games in two locations, but the nature of the second game helped.

“It’s a rivalry game, so I was hoping I would not have to fire them up at all,” Carpenter said. “We had a phenomenal first game coming from behind to beat Yorkville. ... It’s probably a good thing it was a rivalry game because they didn’t have any trouble and clearly we had great first inning, kind of put DeKalb on their heels a little bit. And that’s exactly what we needed to do.”

The winner of the Sycamore-Dixon semifinal faces either Freeport or Rochelle at 4:30 p.m. Friday, with the winner going to the Belvidere North Sectional.

Not only did the Spartans come from behind against Yorkville, they had a walk-off win against Dundee-Crown on Thursday. Carpenter said that was good to see, especially given how the team had squandered leads earlier in the year.

She said she hopes the team can put together a long postseason run.

“I think we’re feeling really good,” Heil said. “We’re going to take this and take it to our next games.”

Montavon, Lauren Gates and Izzy Aranda each had two hits for the Barbs, who had seven in the game.

DeKalb opened the season with a 6-4 loss to Auburn. They led 4-1 but a five-run fifth doomed the Barbs. The Auburn-DeKalb winner will face either Harlem or Jefferson in the title game at 4:30 p.m. Friday with the winner going to the Honeonegah Sectional.

“Auburn is a beatable team,” Albamonte said. “We played the earlier in the year with Ayla pitching. My hope is if everything clears, Jaelyn is ready to go we have a real good shot against them.”