Prep softball: Brooklynn Snodgrass walks it off in Sycamore’s mercy-rule win over Dixon in playoff opener

SYCAMORE – It wasn’t the regular, high-pressure walk-off to secure a comeback or break a tie.

Still, Sycamore slugger Brooklynn Snodgrass said she’ll take her three-run, two-out homer in the bottom of the fourth that secured the Spartans’ 16-0 mercy-rule win over Dixon in a Class 3A Sycamore Regional semifinal.

“I’m gonna count it,” she said.

“There wasn’t a lot of pressure on me. So I let loose and that’s when good things happen.”

—  Brooklynn Snodgrass, Sycamore third baseman

After a scoreless first inning, the No. 2 Spartans (25-10) scored 13 runs in the second against No. 7 Dixon (4-19) to reach the regional championship Friday against either Rochelle or Freeport.

Snodgrass had a single and scored in the second, added a walk and was hit by a pitch in addition to her fourth-inning home run.

“There wasn’t a lot of pressure on me,” Snodgrass said. “So I let loose, and that’s when good things happen.”

Snodgrass also had a heads-up defensive play in the top of the first that likely prevented a Dixon run from scoring. With Bailey Tegeler at second and one out, Elly Brown hit a hard grounder to Snodgrass at third.

Snodgrass threw to second, then second baseman Haley Von Schnase ran Tegeler to third, tossing to shortstop Keera Trautvetter covering the bag and she applied the tag for the out. Ava Valk followed with a single to left that likely would have scored a run.

“I was happy to see Brooklynn go for it,” Sycamore coach Jill Carpenter said. “Early in the year we had a few of those and we didn’t handle it real well, and we worked on it in practice. For her to be brave enough to go for it, and Haley is there ready for it. Haley held on to it until she thought it was time to let it go, and Keera was there for the tag. We didn’t execute that well early in the year, so it’s one of those things where you’re happy to see growth.”

Valk had two of the three hits for Dixon against Sycamore starter Alyssa Wilkerson, who struck out five in four innings.

The Spartans started their 13-run second with singles by Wilkerson and Brighton Snodgrass, then Trautvetter reached first on a dropped third strike to load the bases.

“That one inning kind of killed us,” Dixon coach Candi Rogers said. “Our youth really kind of showed. We’re a very young team. It will hopefully come together next year. I’ve got everybody coming back. But we’ve got to be better.”

Five of the next six Sycamore batters reached base, the only out in the spurt a sacrifice fly by Kairi Lantz. The Spartans had nine of their 12 hits in the game in that inning.

Rogers said single plays have proved costly for the Duchesses all season, and the dropped third strike was no exception. Carpenter said it definitely was a springboard for her team, which hadn’t scored before that.

“Sometimes it just takes little things to happen that give you all the momentum,” Carpenter said. “Alyssa, a nice start, Brighton with a nice base hit and unfortunately for [Dixon] it was a dropped third strike and everybody moves up one, and you don’t suffer an out there. Then we just go.”

Rogers said even though this season didn’t go as expected, she has high expectations her youthful club will turn it around next season.

“Obviously, it’s really not what we wanted,” Rogers said. “We had a lot of close games, and our youth showed. There were a lot of close games we gave away with errors and mental mistakes. Clean it up and we’ll be better.”

Kaitlynn Williams hit a grand slam in the win, capping the Sycamore scoring in the second after hitting a two-run double earlier in the inning. She had three hits for the game. Wilkerson and McLaughlin had two hits each, Trautvetter and McLaughlin scored three times, and McLaughlin added three RBIs.

The Spartans have beat No. 6 Rochelle this season by a combined 35-1 in two games, but have not played No. 3 Freeport. The Hubs and Pretzels play at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, with the winner facing the Spartans at 4:30 p.m. Friday.

“It’s a really good feeling to come out here and slaughter this team like this,” Brooklynn Snodgrass said. “It gives me high hopes for Friday and on. If we can play like this, I think we can make it pretty far.”