The Rochelle softball team put together two solid innings to begin Friday’s game against host Somonauk/Leland.

The Hubs scored twice in each of the opening two innings, then exploded for five runs in the sixth and eventually held off a seventh-inning rally by the Bobcats to earn a 10-7 victory in Somonauk.

“We had a number of games get cancelled due to weather so far this season, so it has been a little tough for the girls to get into a good rhythm,” Rochelle coach Anna Criswell said. “But we played (Thursday) as well and having two games back-to-back was good for us. We were able to get the lead today right away and then we had the big inning in the sixth, which was a big confidence boost for all of them.”

The win improved Rochelle to 2-8, while Somonauk/Leland dropped to 5-6.

The visitors took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first with two outs as Emma Heller lined an RBI base hit to left and then scored on a triple down the right field line by Cheyenne Somers. In the second, Phelisity Lopez and Mya Martinez each drove in runs to make it 4-0.

S/L cut the lead in half as Jayden Secor stole home in the second and Kira Barnes knocked in a run in the third.

In the fourth, Lopez drilled a two-out solo homer the other way to right field to make it 5-2.

“The key for me at the plate is staying positive no matter the count or the situation,” Lopez said. “Softball is such a mental game, so I just try to make sure I’m thinking pitch to pitch. I had a 3-0 count, so I’m taking, and of course the next pitch was right where I like it. Thankfully, the next pitch was in the same spot, and I was able to take a good swing at it.”

A Secor bases loaded walk in the fifth again cut the lead to two at 5-3.

Then in the sixth, Rochelle used RBI hits from Alexa Soto and Martinez, a run-scoring groundout by Camryn Metzger and a trio of Bobcats errors to plate five runs and push the advantage to 10-3

“I feel like my team is going to hit the ball like we did today, but where we’re falling a little short so far is getting those key hits when we need them,” Criswell said. “Today we did a great job of taking advantage of the opportunities that we had. I also thought all three of our pitchers did a really good job and our defense was pretty good as well.”

The hosts scored one in the sixth on an RBI single by MacKenna McMahan. Then in the seventh, the Bobcats loaded the bases and used a two-run hit by Ashley McCoy and an error to score three, but the rally fell short.

Heller finished with three of Rochelle’s 12 hits, while Lopez, Martinez and Somers all had two hits. Starting and winning pitcher Chloe Escatel (3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K), along with Martinez (2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K) and Somers (2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) shared time in the circle.

Kaydence Eade (5⅓ IP, 12 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 7 K) suffered the loss, while Brielle Deacon recorded the final five outs, four via strikeout.

“We had three girls, Brooke Bahrey, Kennedy Barshinger and Ashley McCoy, all come in cold off the bench in the seventh and come through with hits,” S/L coach Hannah Bazan said. “We had the one bad inning in the sixth where we made a couple of mistakes, but I liked how we continued to fight until the final out.

“We found ourselves down early on but stayed within reach. I thought we hit the ball OK, but a couple of times we just weren’t able to get that big hit when we needed it.”

Both teams are scheduled back in action on Monday as S/L hosts Indian Creek, while Rochelle is at Ottawa.