Prep softball: DeKalb falls to Dixon on senior night

DezKALB – DeKalb’s Emma Friedlund and Ashley Sheriff will remember their Senior Night for collecting half of the six hits Dixon starting pitcher Elle Jarrett gave up in the Duchesses’ 11-1 nonconference win over the Barbs on Thursday.

The right-hander, who went the distance, dominated DeKalb’s lineup, striking out 11 and issuing no walks.

Friedlund made the most contact with Jarrett’s pitches. The senior had a two-out single in the first, a leadoff single in the fourth, and flew out to deep left-center field to start the sixth.

“I ran hard and hoped the ball would drop,” Friedlund, a four-year varsity player, said about her last at-bat.

Batters had to constantly change their strategy against Jarrett.

“She was good at hitting spots, moving the ball, changing speeds, so it was just recognizing what she is throwing and try to adjust to it,” said Friedlund, who will play softball next year at North Central College in Naperville.

“It was interesting to watch her warm up and get to see how they were going to play,” senior Isabelle Woodruff added. “But [Senior Night] was still a nice, fun experience.”

“She was getting her changeup, so we kept them off-balance,” Dixon coach Candi Rogers said about Jarrett. “Her rise ball and drop ball were working, so she was moving it around, which is what we needed.”

DeKalb was unable to take advantage of Friedlund’s hits. She was left on base in the first and was forced out at third on Sheriff’s fielder’s choice in the fourth.

With two out in the sixth, Bella Barker reached base with the Barbs fifth hit of game, a single to center. The junior was replaced with pinch runner Calissa Hudson after advancing to second on a wild pitch. Hudson scored on Sheriff’s single to left.

“It felt good getting the hit and the RBI,” said Sheriff. “I made sure I adjusted to the pitches and made sure I fixed what I had to fix after my first at-bat.”

After three years of playing varsity, Sheriff is ending her softball career.

“I’m definitely going to miss playing softball; I loved being part of the team,” she said.

Freshman Ayla Baty-Gould started for the Barbs and pitched five innings. The right-hander gave up two runs in both the second and third innings.

She got out of a jam in the first inning on a double play. After the first two Dixon (17-8) batters reached base, Friedlund snared Sam Tourtillott’s line drive near the third base line and forced the runner at second base. Dixon cleanup hitter Ana-Kate Phillips went down swinging to end the inning.

Hazel Montavon pitched the last two innings.

“Ayla has been our solo arm all year,” DeKalb coach Haley Albamonte said. “She’s worked her butt off in the circle and has thrown a lot of pitches, especially for a freshman. These past two weeks we have been putting her on a strict pitch count, due to the postseason. I just want to keep her healthy. Hazel is not a pitcher – she is shortstop – but dusted off the cobwebs and started pitching for us because we needed it.”

DeKalb wraps its regular season Friday at Sycamore and then returns home to host next week’s Class 4A regional. The Barbs, seeded seventh in their subsectional, open the postseason Tuesday against No. 1 seed Huntley.

“Huntley is an outstanding softball program. We are going need to clean up a few things in practice,” Albamonte said. “But as long as we play our game and do the little things right, we should be able to compete.”