Softball: Sterling pulls away to top Rock Falls

ROCK FALLS – In another highly anticipated chapter of the Rock River softball rivalry between Sterling and Rock Falls, the Golden Warriors got some big hits and took advantage of a few Rocket miscues in a 6-1 road win on Friday afternoon.

Sterling junior Sienna Stingley struck out 12 and walked just two in a three-hitter, and also helped herself with three hits and an RBI at the plate.

“We definitely came to play today. We were really, really excited for this game. It’s Friday night, and prom’s tomorrow, and everyone was just ready to go,” Sterling senior Katie Thatcher said. “We really came together as a team today. Our energy was really good, and I’m proud of everyone. Sienna threw a great game, I think [Rock Falls pitcher] Katie Thatcher threw an amazing game – she was getting us, for sure – but I think we just all played together and pulled out with a win.”

Both Stingley and Thatcher were rolling early on. Thatcher struck out the first five Sterling hitters and got a pair of groundouts for the next two outs, while Stingley recovered from a leadoff walk in the first inning to strike out the next eight Rock Falls hitters before getting a groundout to end the third.

Dittmar provided the opening salvo, roping a line drive to left field that just cleared the fence for a 1-0 lead with one out in the top of the third.

“I just swung, and it went out. I was watching it and I tripped over first base. I thought, ‘Well, at least it went over the fence so I don’t look stupid,’” Dittmar said. “It went over, everybody started screaming, and it was just fun. I think it was a lot of release of some pressure in one swing. It was nice.

“It was huge for us, because I think we were super tight in the beginning, just because this is one of those rivalry games; we’re the next town over, so everybody was just really excited to come over here and play today. But it was also about us wanting to compete really well and show what we have.”

That set the tone for the Warriors offense. Stingley had an RBI single in the fourth inning, then Carley Sullivan ripped a two-out RBI single in the fifth to make it 3-0.

“That home run was huge. Katie really came up clutch and showed us, ‘Hey, we can hit. We can do this,’” Stingley said. “We’re a good team; they’re not better than us, and we’re not a lot better than them – we’re about the same, I would say, and both teams are very competitive. Katie’s home run kind of put the confidence in all of us, like ‘Oh, OK, we can do this. Let’s go!’”

After managing just one baserunner in the first three innings, Sterling loaded the bases with nobody out in the fourth. But after Stingley’s RBI single, Thatcher snagged a line drive right back to her off the bat of Ellie Leigh, and doubled off the runner at first before Maddie Morgan tracked down Marley Sechrest’s line drive to right to end the inning without any further damage.

Right before the inning, Thatcher was hit right in the middle of the back by the warm-up throw to second base by catcher Olivia Osborne, but took some deep breaths and a short walk around the circle, stretched and threw a few more warm-up pitches, and said she was OK to continue.

“I heard it before I felt it; I heard this thunk and thought, ‘What was that?,’ then I felt the pain and thought, ‘Oh, it’s me!’ It hurt to breathe there for a little bit, but I don’t really think it had anything to do with them scoring a few runs after that,” Thatcher said. “Just the focus; our defense needs to be a little bit more on point. We talked before this game that to win today, our defense had to be on point and we had to hit – which are two things that we didn’t do. Defense was a little scratchy, so I feel like if we cleaned that up a bit and got the bats going a little bit more, we would’ve been in this game.”

Errors helped Sterling (18-5) blow the game open in the sixth. Stingley led off with a single, then Mya Lira was hit by a pitch for the second straight plate appearance. The throw went to second on Leigh’s grounder but was mishandled, and courtesy runner Aubri Menchaca was aggressive on the bases and scored from second.

Sechrest followed with a comebacker, but the throw to first was wide. Lira and Leigh both scored, and when the throw back from foul territory to the plate was offline, Sechrest tried to score as well. But Osborne threw a strike to Thatcher covering home for an out, then Thatcher struck out the next two hitters to get out of the inning.

Rock Falls (22-5) had its chances late in the game, but couldn’t sustain a rally. Brooke Howard hit a laser to center field with runners on first and second in the fifth, but it was caught by Lauren Jacobs for the third out. Howard also hit the ball hard after Osborne’s two-out single in the seventh, but again it was right to Jacobs in center field to end the game.

The Rockets scored in the sixth. Thatcher smacked a one-out double down the left-field line to break up Stingley’s no-hitter, then went to third on Zoe Morgan’s infield single up the middle. Patty Teague then laid down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt to drive in Thatcher. But Stingley got her 12th and final strikeout to end the inning.

“We haven’t seen speedy pitchers in a while, so it was nice to finally see someone that had some speed – but being able to adjust to that took a little bit longer than it usually does,” Thatcher said. “We were starting to get in our groove there, but it was too late. But it’s definitely preparing us for regionals.”

Thatcher allowed six runs (two earned) and five hits, striking out 10, walking two and hitting three batters. Despite the loss, the Rockets finished the week 4-1, winning all four Big Northern Conference games to improve to 12-1 in the league.

Sterling went 3-1 for the week, and now sits at 10-2 and still in the hunt for the Western Big 6 title. The key to the wins were contributions from up and down the lineup both at the plate and in the field, and Stingley says she thinks the Warriors are rounding into form nicely with the postseason right around the corner.

“It was very nice to play well this week. We’re very much gelling together on and off the field right now, which is huge going into the back end of the season,” she said. “Just a lot of love out here, we’re just a big family. It’s just fun to be here with this team.”