YHS Softball Season Ends in Rochelle

The Yorkville softball team first handed Belvidere North a few runs in the second inning. Then the wind aided the Blue Thunder in the third inning.

By the time the Lady Foxes batted in the bottom of the third, they were on the wrong side of a 5-0 ballgame.

Yorkville remained within striking distance the rest of the way, but never threaten enough to rattle Belvidere North in Wednesday's Class 3A Rochelle Sectional semifinal, ending their season with a 5-1 loss.

"For whatever reason, I don't think it was meant to be," Yorkville coach Kathi Dockstader said. "It was one of those games, I guess. It wasn't a bad game; it just wasn't good for us."

Yorkville starting pitcher Rachael Owens (10-7) ran into trouble in the second inning. Holly Hilden started the inning with a base hit and then moved to third on back-to-back errors by the Lady Foxes.

Owens nearly worked out of the jam, inducing a pop out and getting a strikeout before Mackenzie Morris drove in the first run of the game with a bunt single. Emily Hawkins followed with a bloop two-run single to make it 3-0.

"We went with Rachael and she was very uptight and was hanging her ball bit and they, obviously, took advantage," Dockstader said. "The mistakes we made early didn't help either."

In the third inning, the gloves of the Lady Foxes could do nothing to stop the drives of Ainsley Billesbach and Hilden. Billesbach's blast to center field was a no doubter while Hilden's smash to center field hit on top of the fence and toppled over for a homer to give the Blue Thunder a 5-0 advantage.

Yorkville (22-11) put its leadoff man on to start the fifth and sixth innings but could only muster a single run. It came in the fifth inning. Allison Haskins reached on an error but was forced at second base on Corinne Rowe's bunt attempt.

Sonja Gilbertson doubled down the left field line to push Rowe to third base and Cacey Maciejewski hit an RBI groundout.

In the sixth inning, Megan Kuhn hit a sharp single to right field to start things, but
Belvidere North pitcher Amanda Blankenship (14-3) set down the next three she faced to end any sort of rally.

"She hit her spots pretty good," Gilbertson said. "You could tell from what the catcher was saying so you have to give her props for that."

Yorkville only had five hits but often put the ball in play only to be denied by a Blue Thunder squad that showed off its leather.

"A lot of us were hitting today but they made some great plays too," Kuhn said. "Especially the third baseman [Elizabeth Fuller]. She snagged the ball a few times."

Gilbertson reached on an error with two outs in the bottom of the seventh before Maciejewski hit a soft liner to shortstop to end the game.

"There have been a lot of times this season where we'd get down late and battle back." Gilbertson said. "Today we couldn't. We tried to fight back and felt capable of doing it but it just didn't work out."

What did work out was another fantastic season for the Lady Foxes as they won back-to-back regional titles for the first time.

"The kids started out on a rough road at 8-8 and then turned it on," Dockstader said.  "They definitely stepped it up and heard some things they didn't want to hear, but they worked hard, are a great group of kids and went something like 14-3 for the [last] part of the season."

The Lady Foxes will graduate seniors Tara Young, Devin Turner, Stefanie Miller, Nicole Hersem, Lina Serio, Gilbertson, Haskins and Kuhn.