RICHMOND – A close loss to Richmond-Burton in a Class 2A regional final last season gave Marengo extra motivation for its first of two regular-season meetings against its Kishwaukee River Conference rivals on Tuesday.

That the Indians had a chance to hand the Rockets their first KRC loss of the season was a nice bonus, too.

Marengo did just that and broke things wide open with an eight-run top of the seventh inning to beat R-B, 11-2, creating a tie atop the KRC standings. The Indians (19-1-1, 5-1) and Rockets (9-3, 5-1) are now tied for first with four games remaining.

Tuesday’s winning pitcher, sophomore Lilly Kunzer, was on the team last year that lost to the Rockets, 11-9, in the postseason and ended a string of 13 consecutive regional titles for Marengo.

“This is a huge win for us,” Kunzer said. “We came back hungry from that regional loss. We came excited to play, I don’t think we could have been more excited. I knew I had to pitch good today. I’ve heard of [Richmond-Burton pitcher Hailey Holtz]. I knew she was good, so I knew I had to hit my spots today.”

The Indians went up with a plan of first trying to make contact against Holtz, who has thrown two no-hitters during her freshman season and is among the area’s top strikeout pitchers. Marengo struck out seven times, a number well below Holtz’s season-long average, and had only two innings with multiple strikeouts.

“We were doing a really great job of putting the ball in play,” Indians coach Dwain Nance said. “Great pitcher, and we prepared for that. I thought our girls reacted very well and came out and executed offensively. We kept putting the ball in play, and some of those hits finally started to come through.

“All through the lineup we were able to produce, and that is important because sometimes the bottom of the order doesn’t always get recognition they deserve. I thought that our bottom of the order did a good job.”

Marengo had 14 hits, including seven in the seventh inning to break away from the Rockets. Mia Lulinski (4 for 5) started the inning with a single, followed by a double from Kylee Jensen (2 for 5). Kunzer (2 for 4) knocked in both runners on a single to center field, giving the Indians a 5-2 lead.

Marengo went on to score six more runs in the inning, with Kay Felks, Maddy Christopher (2 for 4, three runs) and Courtney Jasinski all collecting RBIs. Lulinski came up a second time and hit a home run over the left-center field fence after a 12-pitch battle to finish the scoring.

Jensen, a freshman catcher, plays on the same travel team as Holtz and provided some helpful hitting tips before the game.

“She’s a great pitcher, we knew we had to attack early,” Jensen said. “If you don’t attack her early, you’re going to get all this junk, and you’re never going to get her. Everyone was so energetic and ready. Seeing everyone hit, top to bottom, was awesome.”

Richmond-Burton almost took a lead twice Tuesday.

The first time came when Rockets junior catcher Taylor Davison appeared to smack a three-run home run over the left-field fence, but it was ruled to have gone foul as it curved past the foul pole. Davison ended up flying out to right field, keeping the score 2-0 in favor of Marengo after three innings.

In the fifth, after the Rockets scored two runs to tie the game at 2-all, Christopher threw out a runner from center field trying to score from second base on a hit from Norah Spittler. Kunzer got out of the inning and Marengo scored the go-ahead run on a throwing error in the top of the sixth.

Lyndsay Regnier drove in a run for R-B, while Spittler had two hits. Holtz gave up five earned runs on 14 hits, striking out seven and walking three.

“I told the girls that there are going to be calls that don’t go your way, and we’ve got to find it within us to let it go and move onto the next pitch,” R-B first-year coach Tylar Stanton said. “Whether that was a home run or not, there’s no sense of going back on it.”

Kunzer, who gave up two runs on five hits with four strikeouts and two walks, retired the Rockets in order in the sixth and seventh to seal the victory. The next win for Marengo would be its 20th after going 19-18 last season.

“It feels amazing to come back from last year and bring all this momentum,” Kunzer said. “All of our girls are really energetic. We carry each other and pick each other up.”