Softball: Richmond-Burton hangs tough with Rockridge in supersectional loss

Richmond-Burton’s bid to end Rockridge’s 62-game winning streak and advance to the state tournament for the first time in program history fell just short Monday with a 1-0 loss in the Class 2A EastSide Centre Supersectional in East Peoria.

Rockridge (33-0), which has now won 63 straight games, will face Pontiac – a 3-0 winner against Montini in the Olivet Nazarene University Supersectional – in the state semifinals at 3 p.m. Friday at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex in Peoria.

Richmond-Burton finished its outstanding season with a 20-6 record, its first sectional championship since 2002, fourth regional title in the past five seasons and third consecutive Kishwaukee River Conference title.

Rockridge, the No. 1-ranked team in the Illinois Softball Coaches Association Class 2A poll, will make its fifth trip to the state tournament in the past six seasons after winning state titles in both 2018 and 2021.

Rockridge’s last loss was in the 2019 state semifinals against Beecher.

“It was tough, but the girls handled it really well,” R-B first-year coach Tylar Stanton said of the season ender. “They understood how far we’ve come. As a staff and as a team we wanted to continue, but we stuck it out until the end.

“It’s a tough one, and we’ll use this as we move forward. We’ll just do what it takes to make it back.”

Richmond-Burton freshman pitcher Hailey Holtz was great for the Rockets (20-6), giving up only the one run on four hits over six innings. She finished with six strikeouts and two walks. Holtz recently surpassed 200 strikeouts for the season.

“She was doing the same with her mentality and the way she carried herself,” Stanton said. “She wanted it, they all did. She was able to hit her spots, limit her walks, get the timely out and trust her defense when she needed to.

“It was a pitchers’ duel for sure.”

Richmond-Burton was held to three hits and put a runner on base in the top of the seventh after a one-out single by Norah Spittler. Rockridge pitcher Kendra Lewis got the next batter, Mia Spohr, to fly out to center field and struck out Emerson Herrick for the final out.

Lewis allowed only three hits in a complete-game shutout, striking out nine and walking one.

Rockridge scored its only run in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly by Illinois State commit Bailah Bognar, scoring Payton Brown, who doubled to start the inning and moved to third on a fielder’s choice.

For R-B, leadoff hitter Lyndsay Regnier (2 for 3) collected two of the team’s three hits. She led off the top of the first with a single and top of the fourth with a double.

Richmond-Burton was the only team to hold Rockridge, which averaged 10.2 runs a game of offense entering Monday, to one run this season. Only two teams have done so since the start of last season.

Stanton said his team wasn’t intimated by the recent success of Rockridge and had a “business mentality” on the three-hour commute to East Peoria.

“These girls are a high-spirited bunch, but they had a different way they carried themselves today,” Stanton said. “We just needed a few more things to fall our way. We wanted it as much as the opponent did.”

Richmond-Burton has a lot to look forward to in the coming years and will return its entire starting lineup, including one of the area’s top power hitters in Michigan State commit Taylor Davison.

“They took [the loss] hard, but it wasn’t a group that was sobbing because it’s over,” Stanton said. “They all know that they’ve got an opportunity next year, and some for two or three more years after that. I gave them a little bit of time before I went out and talked to them. We just talked about how talented this group is and how we have an opportunity to get back here.

“We’ve got a good future coming.”