Softball: Richmond-Burton tops Regina Dominican to win 3rd straight regional title

RICHMOND – Richmond-Burton went on a magical postseason run a year ago, finishing a win short of its first state appearance, and returned its entire team with state aspirations in mind.

On Friday, the Rockets delivered a 5-0 win over Regina Dominican to capture the Class 2A Richmond-Burton Regional championship.

The Rockets (17-8) have won three regional titles in a row and five out of the past six. R-B advances and will face Rock Falls – a 2-0 winner over North Boone in the Rock Falls Regional – in a Class 2A Stillman Sectional semifinal at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“We’ve had some ups and downs, but I feel like we’re finally back to the same team feeling from last year,” sophomore starting pitcher Hailey Holtz said. “I’m just excited to see where we can go in the postseason.”

Holtz had one of her best performances of the season. She allowed a leadoff double to Lily Grillo, but did not give up any more hits after that, striking out 10 and allowing only one other batter to reach base on a hit-by-pitch in the fifth.

Holtz, a Northwest Herald All-Area first-team pick last year with 226 strikeouts, said she was struggling with location and velocity earlier this season, but feels her stuff is starting to come around.

“I feel like I struggled during the [regular] season, but coming into the postseason I’ve kind of figured things out, and I feel more confident,” Holtz said. “I was struggling a little bit with my spots and even my speed, so some of my movement and spin is really focused in and gotten a lot better.

“I’ve just been pitching a lot cleaner.”

Richmond-Burton coach Tylar Stanton said Holtz was dialed in from the start.

“That’s my ace, that’s the girl who I have all the faith and confidence in,” Stanton said. “She’s just a sophomore, and you wouldn’t know it by coming out and watching her pitch. She came out and owned that circle. I told her before one of her classes, ‘Today’s your game.’

“She’s a killer when she’s on.”

The Rockets scored an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning to take the early lead and tallied three runs on three hits in the third. Norah Spittler (2 for 3) had an RBI single to score Taylor Davison, and Lyndsay Regnier followed with a double over Panthers center fielder Stella Ozenbaugh’s head.

Regnier later came in to score on an infield hit from Adriana Portera.

Davison, who scored three runs, led off the fifth with a single and was driven in by Spittler for a 5-0 lead.

“It’s exciting. It’s the first step to making it far in the postseason,” Davison said. “Winning a regional was a goal we all wanted to achieve. We just ended school Wednesday, and now we get another week to be with everyone. We’re super excited.”

Before Friday’s game, the Rockets last played 10 days ago.

Their regional semifinal was a forfeit win after Marian Central, which only has a JV team, was included in the postseason by mistake.

“It felt like a football week, five practices for one game,” said Stanton, who also coaches football in the fall. “We were hoping to play on Tuesday and get in a groove, so we did some scrimmaging and small ball stuff instead that we would see in games.”

Holtz is excited to see where the rest of the postseason takes the Rockets.

“I think we have a good shot of making it to state,” Holtz said. “Sectionals are going to be hard, but I’d love to see Rockridge again in the supersectionals if it comes to it. I think this year we can beat them.”