Softball: Dierschow, Sycamore win Interstate 8 rematch against Kaneland

Sycamore pitcher Addison Dierschow had the upper hand in Wednesday’s rematch with Kaneland’s Brynn Woods.

The two right-handers squared off in the teams’ first Interstate 8 Conference game on April 22 when Kaneland beat Sycamore 3-0 for the Spartans only conference loss.

Backed up by timely hitting and heads-up base running, Dierschow pitched Sycamore to a 10-1 win. Going five innings, the junior stuck out five, issued no walks and scattered four hits.

The Spartans scored runs in the usual manner on base hits, but also crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly, a wild pitch and a misplayed ball.

“It was the little things today. Bella Jacobs ran the bases and scored the first run on a wild pitch that only went about six feet away and scored another big run in the seventh to answer, when they threw the ball away returning it to the infield. She was heads up,” Spartans coach Jill Carpenter said. “We will take those runs anyway we can get them when they are hard to come by.”

The Spartans threatened in both the first and second innings but did not score. Addison McLaughlin hit the second pitch of the game in the left-field gap for a triple but got no further. In the second, after getting two outs, Woods loaded the bases on three consecutive walks but wiggled out of the jam by inducing Addison Armstrong to fly out to center.

Ellie Peck replaced Woods in the top of the third.

Sycamore (25-2, 9-1) scored four runs in their half of the inning to take a 4-0 lead. Spartans’ catcher Kairi Lantz started the rally with the first of her four hits, a single down the left field line. Courtesy runner Bella Jacobs replaced Lantz at first base and scored on the wild pitch.

Lantz was 4 for 5 with two doubles and two singles.

“My team being there for me was the main thing,” Lantz said. “I just had to line up my hands and my knuckles.”

Ema Durst’s sacrifice fly to right brought home the second run.

“It doesn’t have to be hit, just get the ball in play. Hitting a sacrifice fly when we were struggling to put the ball in play with less than two outs and a runner on third is important to us because we got find a way to produce runs,” the Spartans coach said.

Brighton Snodgrass brought the last two runs with a home run that bounced off the top of the left-field fence.

“I was just waiting for my inside pitch,” Snodgrass said. “She was throwing a lot outside, but I was letting them go.”

Two doubles in the sixth, one by Lantz and the other by Faith Heil and a Kaneland error extended Sycamore’s lead to 7-0.

Jacobs replaces Diesrchow in the bottom of the sixth.

“Bella is someone we are trying to work back in,” Carpenter said. “She’s coming off an injury she had preseason and she looked great today.”

Kaneland (9-11, 5-4) had runners in scoring position in four innings, but only got one run back in its half of the sixth. Woods, who stayed in the game as the designated player, scored on Corinne Pugh’s single to left.

“We broke it open a couple of times,” Kaneland coach Madison Mikos said. “We got runners on base but had trouble with the execution piece when it came to score runs.”

The Spartans added three runs in the seventh.