LOCAL ROUNDUP: Sterling baseball rallies to beat United Township

Sterling, Rock Falls softball pick up victories; Newman softball falls

Sauk Valley sports roundup

The Sterling baseball team snapped a six-game losing streak, and in the process picked up its first ever Western Big 6 win by rallying to beat United Township 6-5 on Tuesday.

The Golden Warriors, playing their first spring sports season in the conference due to the entire 2020 season being wiped out, had lost their first five conference games of 2021 and looked like they would drop another after a four-run first inning by the Panthers.

But Sterling answered with two in the top of the fourth and four in the fifth.

Ryan Heffelfinger was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. JD Hall also drove in two runs. Noel Aponte added an RBI.

Blake Nettleton pitched six innings for the win and allowed five runs on seven hits, striking out four. Colt Adams, in an inning of relief, walked one and allowed one hit, but kept UT off the scoreboard to earn the save.

Byron 2, Rock Falls 0: The Rockets had a no-hitter into the seventh, but two unearned runs in the fifth inning led to a Big Northern loss at home.

Chase Chappell didn’t allow a hit in five innings, giving up the two unearned runs and striking out seven. Dillon Schueler struck out two and walked two in an inning of work, and Brady Richards allowed the lone hit int he seventh but struck out the other three hitters he faced.

Chappell had a double, and Schueler and Richards each had singles for Rock Falls’ three hits.

Princeton 7, Erie-Prophetstown 2: The Tigers jumped ahead with two runs in the fourth, three in the fifth and a run each in the sixth and seventh in a win over the Panthers.

Erie-Prophetstown chipped away at the deficit with two runs in the bottom of the sixth, but could get no closer.

Connor Sibley had a pair of hits for Erie-Prophetstown.

Kolby Franks struck out seven in his 4 1/3 innings on the mound.

Milledgeville 3, AFC 2: A day after losing in extra innings to Amboy, the Raiders fell on a late run to the Missiles.

Milledgeville took a 2-0 lead on a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, but AFC pulled even, scoring a run in the third and another in the fourth. But the Missiles eventually answered back, scoring in the bottom of the sixth to pick up the win.

Izaac Toms-Smith, Ashton Nobis and Treyton Selman all had two hits for Milledgeville. Noah Newstrand pitched 3 2/3 innings and struck out eight, allowing two runs on two hits. Nobis pitched 3 1/3 and allowed no runs and one hit while striking out three.

Peyton Lanning had a double and an RBI for AFC. Griffin Bushman pitched five innings and struck out six, allowing two runs on seven hits. Evan Kopp pitched an inning and walked three, allowing a run on no hits.

Amboy 5, Polo 2: The Clippers topped the Marcos in an NUIC game on the road.

Ian Eller struck out 10 in 6 2/3 innings for Amboy, and Preston Henkel had a pair of hits. Sam Russell and Joe Ackert had RBI singles in the first inning, Lane Boehle added an RBI sacrifice fly in the fifth, and Brady Jones capped the scoring with a two-run single in the seventh.

Gavin Zell and Parker Wolber scored runs for Polo. Zell took the loss on the mound.

Forreston 6, Eastland 0: The Cardinals earned a shutout win, limiting Eastland to four hits.

Kellen Henze had two of Eastland’s hits. Carson Witt added a double.

SOFTBALL

Sterling 12, United Township 1, 5 inn.: The Golden Warriors scored four in the third and eight in the fifth to beat the Panthers in East Moline.

Ellie Leigh and Amayia Hernandez each homered for Sterling. Hernandez, Leigh and Lauren Jacobs all had two RBIs. Hannah Jacoby went 3-for-3.

Elizabeth Palumbo struck out seven and allowed four hits.

Rock Falls 17, Byron 5: The Rockets got three hits from Brooke Howard, a home run from Karli Fischbach, and three RBIs from Zoe Morgan in a win over Byron.

Rock Falls scored a run in the first, three in the second and one in the third before a three-run outburst in the sixth and nine more in the seventh.

Nicolette Udell pitched three innings and struck out four, allowing no runs and no hits. Abbi Whiles allowed five runs, none of them earned, on one hit and struck out two.

Orion 8, Newman 5: The Comets put five runs on the board in the top of the second to take the lead, but could not hold it as the Chargers answered with three in the fifth and five more in the sixth in the Three Rivers crossover.

Ady Waldschmidt had a pair of hits, including a double. Madison Duhon also had a pair of hits.

Forreston 10, Eastland 2: The Cardinals used a seven-run fourth to top the Cougars.

Rylee Broshous, Brooke Boettner and Nevaeh Houston all had two RBIs for the Cardinals. Kara Erdmann struck out seven.

Emma Joens and Chloe Sweitzer each had two hits for Eastland, and Addison Burkholder and Mallory Misiewicz drove in runs.

Polo 3, Amboy 2: The Marcos let a 2-0 slip away with a pair of Clippers runs in the top of the seventh before winning in a walk-off.

Karlea Freny went 2-for-3 with a double for Polo. Sydnei Rahn added a single.

Lauren Tarr and Hannah Blanton each had two hits for Amboy.

Warren-Stockton 1, West Carroll 0: The Thunder wound up on the wrong end of a pitchers’ duel in a loss to Warren-Stockton.

A run in the top of the third was all the scoring on a day when the two teams combined for five hits.

Lauren Kehl struck out seven for Warren-Stockton. Hannah Bauch struck out eight for the Thunder.

GIRLS SOCCER

Oregon 5, North Boone 1: The Hawks got a pair of goals from Nadia Thiesell, two from Alyssa Mowry, and one from Leah Watters in a win over the Vikings.

Watters added three assists, and Mowry also assisted on a goal.

Riley Crichton made four saves.

BOYS TRACK & FIELD

Forreston-Polo 108, Oregon 98, Stillman Valley 20: The Forreston-Polo co-op cruised to a win at Landers-Loomis.

Bennett Soltow won the 110 hurdles in 15.69 seconds and the 300 hurdles in 42.13. Jordan Neuschwander won the 100 in 11.69 and the 200 in 23.81. Micah Nelson won the 800 in 2:14.74 and the 1600 in 5:26.69. Payton Enchoff’s 57.84 topped the 400. Devonte King won the triple jump with a leap of 11.13 meters. Matthew Beltran cleared 1.81 meters in the high jump.

Oregon made its mark in the field events, with Daniel Dominguez winning the shot put with a throw of 13.41 meters and the discus with a throw of 38.39 meters. Joey Gelander leapt 5.78 meters to win the long jump. Nathaniel Schone cleared 3.50 meters to win the pole vault.

Rockridge 60, Fulton 36: The Steamers lost to the Rockets.

Kyler Pessman won the 200 in 25.87. Pessman, Ethan Rash, Joey Huizenga and Josh Vanderploeg won the 4x100 relay in 46.57. Vaderploeg, Kyler Pessman, Daken Pessman and Carson Wherry won the 4x200 in 1:38.52.

Wherry won the long jump, going 5.09 meters.

Amboy wins invitational: The Clippers scored 118 points to beat out Indian Creek (106) on their home track. Milledgeville scored 58 points to take third. West Carroll was in fourth with 53. AFC was fifth with 37.

Brock Loftus tied the Ohio school record in winning the 1600 in 4:47.09.

Amboy got a shot put win from Chandler Pohl with his toss of 11.66 meters. Ben Henrickson led a 1-2 Amboy finish in the 200 with a time of 23.92 to beat teammate Kelton Schwanberger.

AFC’s Rodney Ramirez won the 100 in 12.01.

West Carroll’s Jacob McLuckie won the discus with a toss of 35.13 meters. Briar Nevills won the 3200 in 10:10.77.

GIRLS TRACK & FIELD

Jones sets pair of school records: In the Amboy 7-team meet, the Clippers’ Elly Jones set a school record in the long jump of 35 feet, 4.5 inches, and in the 100 hurdles of 15.52 seconds. She also won the 300 hurdles in 48.68 seconds.

Amboy’s Lauren Althaus won the 200 in 27.15.

Milledgeville’s Adrianna Miller won the 400 in 1:04.96. Skylar Hartman won the 1600 in 6:30.87. Quine Haverland won the shot put with a throw of 9.40 meters and the discus with a throw of 26.54 meters.

Rockridge 74, Fulton 50: The Steamers fell at Rockridge.

Hailey VanZuiden won the 100 in 14.62. Abbigail Thyne won the 200 in 29.95. Aliya Bueno won the 400 in 1:14.66.

Grace Dykstra picked up a win in the long jump, leaping 4.27 meters. Dykstra teamed up with Brooklyn Brennan, Mikayla Gazo and Thyne to win the 4x100 relay in 53.64. Dykstra, Gazo, Thyne and Annaka Hackett won the 4x200 in 1:57.19.

TENNIS

Geneseo 8, Sterling 1: The Golden Warriors dropped a Western Big 6 dual, the only win coming at No. 1 singles, where Brecken Peterson beat Mason Miller 6-1, 1-6, 10-8.