Softball: Warriors Down Rochelle 10-0 For Regional Title

After falling short in regional championship games the last two years, the SHS Softball team left no doubt this year. The Golden Warriors routed Rochelle 10-0 in six innings Saturday to capture the Freeport 3A title – Sterling’s fifth regional title since 2004 and first since 2009.

Sterling (30-6) took the lead for good with a four run third inning. With one out, Karlie Mellott singled and Paige Lobdell put down a sacrifice bunt. Lobdell was safe at first when the throw from the third baseman was offline. Stephanie Kester then hit a sinking liner to right that dropped in for a hit and skipped past the rightfielder, with both Mellott and Lobdell scoring on the play. Ashli King then just missed a home run with a shot to right-center and had to settle for a run scoring triple. Mackenzie Staples drove in King with the final run of the inning with a groundout to short.

Sterling added a single run in the fifth when Stapled drove in Mellott with a two-out single.

Bailey Oetting made it 6-0 by leading off the 6 th inning with a towering home run to left, hit second homer of the season. Sterling scored four more in the inning to end the game via the 10-run rule. Kester and Staples each drove in a pair with base hits.

In the circle, Kester (24-6) earned the win, tossing a complete game two hitter in earning her 50th career varsity win. Both hits came with two out in the first inning. She walked one and struck out six.

The win was the 200 th in Rick Henderson’s 9 years as SHS head coach. It was also the 100th varsity win for 4-year senior starters Ashli King and Paige Lobdell.

Next Up: Sterling (30-6, ranked 9 th in 3A) now heads to the Belvidere-North Sectional semifinals to take on Maple Park-Kaneland (31-6, ranked 2 nd in 3A) Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.