SOFTBALL: Stillman Valley tops Rock Falls in pitchers’ duel

ROCK FALLS – Stillman Valley starter Addison Wythe took a perfect game bid into the fifth. Rock Falls starter Nicolette Udell struggled with control early but found it soon after.

Wythe struck out six, walked one, and allowed three runs on six hits. Udell struck out eight, walked seven and allowed five runs on six hits.

In the end, with the potential tying run at the plate in the bottom of the seventh, Wythe worked her way out of one final jam to lead Stillman Valley to a 5-3 Big Northern Conference win on Monday.

The Cardinals led 5-1 headed into the bottom of the seventh before singles by Claire Bickett, Zoe Morgan and Rylee Johnson scored a run and put two on with one out.

Brooke Howard grounded to second for the second out, scoring Morgan in the process, but Jersey Thomas popped out in foul territory to first, ending the threat and the game.

Wythe also worked out of a jam in the sixth, after a sharp hit by Howard to lead off the inning was too much for shortstop Grace Lagerhausen to handle, and Thomas bunted her way on. After a sacrifice bunt by Savanna Fritz moved the runners over, Wythe struck out Karli Fischbach and got Abby Whiles to ground out.

“Just had to keep it inside and hope that jams them and they get ground balls,” Wythe said.

Meanwhile, Udell was working her own gem. She set down the Cardinals in order in the second, fourth and sixth innings, and stranded eight for the game.

“Just leading off hard with my strides, because once I did that, I started being more consistent and harder, and they just couldn’t hit the ball because it was dropping more,” she said.

That came after an initial bout with wildness. Stillman Valley scored two runs in the first on a bases-loaded walk and a wild pitch, but Udell left the bases loaded in that inning by making a diving grab on a pop-up in front of the circle.

Stillman Valley (9-3, 8-1 BNC) added two more runs in the third when Alayna Hanners doubled to center. But even in that inning, Udell faced a two-on, one-out situation and got out of it with a strikeout and a pop-up to first.

She left two more stranded in the sixth with a strikeout.

“Karli really helps me out with that,” Udell said. “She kind of just gives me this look, like ‘You’re OK,’ and it really helps me through it. I couldn’t do it without her.”

Wythe didn’t allow a baserunner until Fischbach led off the fifth with a double. In the first four innings, she struck out five of the 12 batters she faced, induced four ground balls, including one back to the circle, and got a pop out to third and a fly ball to left.

“I threw a lot of screwballs, got ground balls, and the defense worked well,” she said.

Her defense made some highlight-reel catches in the process. Howard led off the first with a flare to left which Baily Lynde dove for and caught. After Fischbach’s double, Stillman Valley centerfielder Grace Pfeiffer tracked down a well-hit ball from Whiles.

Rock Falls (6-4, 4-3 BNC) eventually got on the board when Morgan doubled home Fischbach. Morgan had a 2-for-3 day at the plate with one RBI and a run scored.

“I just think they had to catch up to [Wythe],” Rock Falls coach Kris Smith said. “She’s a little quicker than we’ve played the last couple of games, so we just had to catch up. It’s not like she was sitting us down. We were making contact, we were hitting the ball, we were making them play defense. That’s what I wanted her to do. At the end, we started tagging her a lot harder, so we started figuring her out. She’s got some good movement on her.”