How one pitch flipped the momentum and brought Belvidere North softball season to a close

SYCAMORE — Exactly one year later, with the same two aces on the mound, and eventually by the exact same score, Kaneland bounced Belvidere North from the softball postseason once again.

North and its senior right-handed ace Becca Schwartz were involved in a pitcher's duel with Kaneland and its powerful righty Grace Algrim during Friday's Class 3A sectional-final showdown, exactly one year to the day that Algrim and Kaneland ousted Schwartz and North from the playoffs, 5-0. It only took one pitch this time around to swing things Kaneland's way in the sixth inning, and the Blue Thunder's season quickly came to a close with another 5-0 defeat.

More Belvidere North softball: 'This team won't go down': Why Belvidere North is the last NIC-10 softball team standing

"It was back and forth, and both pitchers were really good today," said Belvidere North head coach Brian Hilden, "again."

"But I'm super happy with what Becca did today," Hilden continued. "I mean, well that one pitch, that one home run, that was it, that was the difference in the game, right there."

Schwartz had thrown complete-game victories in each of the team's first three postseason games, and she was going toe-to-toe with Algrim in this one as well.

Schwartz allowed just two hits and one walk through the first five innings and neither team could muster a run. But then, in the top of the sixth after an overturned groundout turned into a single, with runners on first and third with no outs, Emily Olp blasted a long drive over the centerfield fence to give Kaneland a 3-0 lead.

Olp had two hits and three RBIs in Kaneland's 10-1 win over Sterling in the sectional semi, and she kickstarted the brief rally that led to the only five runs of the game on Friday as well.

More softball: A look at the 3 Rockford-area softball teams still alive for an IHSA state title

"That 3-run homer, what can we say, that's just tough," junior shortstop Rylee Koeller said. "But we just weren't stringing hits together, so that wasn't it. We just couldn't get it back."

Kaneland eliminated North with another 5-0 victory for the regional title back on June 3, 2021. Algrim gave up just two hits to Belvidere North in last year's postseason showdown, but the Blue Thunder mustered five hits off her this time around, including back-to-back singles by Marissa Long and Kam Deckard which, along with a walk by Jacquie Alvarez, loaded the bases for the Blue Thunder in the seventh.

But Kaneland secured the final out with a diving snag of a line drive, and North's deepest playoff run for the softball program came to a close just two wins shy of the state tournament.

"It's upsetting that this is over," Alvarez, a senior, said. "But I'm so happy with how far we got, and just how we had to earn it, every step that we took...It was a super exciting game and we fought so hard, as hard as we could. They thought they were going to just crush us, but I'm so proud of all of us. We battled hard."

Long was 2-for-3 and Alvarez was 1-for-2, but North just couldn't break through against Algrim. She had four one-two-three innings, walked only one batter all day, and allowed only two runners to third.

Now it will be Kaneland who will battle Antioch on Monday for the right to go to the 3A state tournament in Peoria later in the week.

The Blue Thunder will look to the future.

"Today was a different day, but it is what it is," Hilden said of the outcome Friday. "They have a lot to be proud of, though. They believed in one another all season long, they fought for one another, and that's all I could ask from them.

"We'll be back."

Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @JayTaft. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: How one pitch brought Belvidere North softball season to a close