With nine seniors on the roster, La Salle-Peru softball coach Randy Huebbe had an easy time knowing who to pencil into the lineup for Senior Night on Monday.

However, Huebbe had to move some players to different positions to let all the seniors, who graduate Thursday, start on their night.

The adjustments didn’t hinder the Cavaliers at all as they scored four runs in each the first and second innings en route to a 10-0, five-inning victory over Rochelle in an Interstate 8 Conference game in La Salle.

“It was a great time, we all had fun,” L-P senior center fielder Karmen Piano said. “Everyone was up in the dugout. We all played together. I think it was great.”

The Class of 2026 has played a key role for the L-P program over the last four years with Piano, Kelsey Frederick and Taylor Vescogni being four-year varsity players and Anna Riva and Lydia Steinbach being three-year varsity players. The team’s other seniors are Brie Ruppert, Dagny Greer, Claire Boudreau and Sophia Pyszka.

“The majority of these girls I’ve had on varsity for three to four years, so it’s tough,” L-P coach Randy Huebbe said. “It’s tough going from senior night to the end of the year. They’ve really changed the culture of the school, even beyond softball. I love these seniors. I don’t want this to end.”

The Cavs have started to get on a roll as the regular season winds down. L-P has won five straight games after a four-game losing streak.

“I think we’ve really picked it up at the end of the season,” Piano said. “The beginning of the season was a little rocky. We’re working really hard and focusing. I think everyone is kind of locked in now, so that’s good.”

Huebbe said an adjustment to their offensive approach has been key for the Cavs, who were held to one run or less in three of the four losses during their losing streak.

During the five-game winning streak, L-P is averaging nine runs per game and has scored double digits three times.

“We made some nice adjustments to our hitting a week and a half ago and we’ve really turned into the team I thought we were,” Huebbe said. “There was just too much movement with their bats and by the time they were ready to swing, the ball was by them. So we just worked on going from A to B. Basically, what we said was eliminate the alphabet, just go A to B. They did that against Dunlap (in an 11-1 win Friday) and boy, that was impressive. We did well.”

Piano got the offense started Monday with a single to left field to lead off the bottom of the first inning. She later scored on a wild pitch.

Greer delivered a two-run single to right field with two outs and Vescogni scored the final run on an errant throw to second base on Greer’s steal.

Piano started the four-run second with a one-out double. Steinbach had an RBI single, two scored when Ruppert reached on an error and Vescogni hit an RBI double.

Piano smacked an RBI double in the third and scored the game-ending run in the fifth on a single by Steinbach.

“As the leadoff hitter, I like to get the game started with a hit,” Piano said. “It always works out well in our favor.”

The offense provided more than enough for L-P’s three senior pitchers.

Vescogni and Ruppert each threw two perfect innings. Vescogni struck out five batters and Ruppert fanned four. Boudreau gave up two hits in a scoreless fifth, striking out one.

“I was impressed with the pitching,” Huebbe said. “Brie Ruppert came in and picked up where Taylor was. She went right through them. Brie should be very happy and very confident.”

Emma Heller and Cheyenne Somers each had a hit for the Hubs (4-17, 0-10 I-8).

“We knew they are good competition,” Rochelle coach Anna Criswell said. “We just saw them last week. I thought we did a good job of trying to minimize some of the runs. Here and there we had some errors, but we did a good job of trying to pick each other up and focus on the next play.”

Rochelle finishes the week at Guilford, home with Sterling and at Stillman Valley.

“Seeing that good competition is going to keep getting us ready for the good competition we’ll see in the postseason,” Criswell said.

L-P (18-12, 4-6) ends the regular season with home games against Rockridge and Serena before playing Sterling and Metamora on Saturday.