Hailey Holtz, Richmond-Burton slow down Marengo in Kishwaukee River Conference win

MARENGO – It’s go-time for Richmond-Burton senior pitcher Hailey Holst.

Holtz, a four-year varsity starter, has been in go mode all spring.

The Rockets’ ace was up to the task again Tuesday against Marengo, striking out 12, including the last five batters, in a 5-2 win over the two-time defending Kishwaukee River Conference champions.

“Her demeanor this year, it’s something different,” Rockets fourth-year coach Tylar Stanton said of the NCAA Division-I Iowa State recruit. “She’s not letting little things get to her. She understands that she’s the best one out there. There is nobody better in the circle when she’s in go mode.”

Holtz settled down after allowing a leadoff home run to Marengo senior catcher Kylee Jensen, a Northwestern commit, and back-to-back walks to the Indians’ No. 2 and 3 hitters. Holtz struck out the next two batters and got a fly out for the last out of the first.

Holtz and Jensen, former travel teammates, have had many battles throughout their varsity careers. Jensen had solo home runs in two of her three at-bats against Holtz on Tuesday, both times pulling the ball over the fence in left field.

“I was a little nervous coming in, but I really just took a deep breath,” Holtz said after allowing the first three Indians’ batters to reach base. “Kylee is my old [Illinois] Chill teammate. I love her to death, I knew she was going to be a tough hitter. I took a few deep breaths after that, after those two walks, and I dialed in from there.”

Holtz allowed two runs on four hits over seven innings. She walked two and retired six of the last seven batters she faced by strikeout.

“It’s always fun, we text and joke around with each other,” Holtz said of facing Jensen. “I love facing her. It’s always a tough at-bat, but it makes me better, and it’s always good to face good hitters.”

Richmond-Burton scored all five of its runs with two outs, scoring three runs on four consecutive hits in the third inning and adding two runs in the fourth.

All five runs charged against Marengo senior pitcher Jozsa Christiansen were unearned. She gave up eight hits in seven innings with four strikeouts and three walks.

Gabby Hird, Madison Kunzer and Lilly Kwapniewski had RBI hits in the third with two outs after Marengo committed a fielding error. Rebecca Lanz had a two-run double in the fourth after Marengo again committed an error.

“We didn’t show much of a fight to come back,” Indians coach Dwain Nance said. “We’re going to get down, we’ve got to learn how to fight back. That’s what really good athletes do, they find a way to come back, and we just didn’t do that.”

Stanton said he is still tinkering with the Rockets’ starting lineup, but that hasn’t stopped them from succeeding with a 13-5-1 record overall (4-1 in KRC).

Lanz, a junior, said the Rockets will continue to fight not matter how many outs.

“When girls head up in hard situations and they just put the ball in play, good things happen,” Lanz said. “Stay confident in yourself but know if two people get out, there’s a person that’s going to pick you up and score those runs.”

Marengo (14-6, 4-1) has won the past two KRC championships, while R-B won the previous three in 2022, 2021 and 2019 (no 2020 season because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

Stanton said the Rockets, who have taken third in the past two years, are hungry for more.

“In four years, these seniors have had to work their butts off,” Stanton said of playing Marengo. “We’ve had some tight games with them, run-ins where conference was in jeopardy. Today I felt like when we got off the bus, we had the mentality to go take care of business.”

Nance said Holtz didn’t make things easy.

“She can really zip the ball and she probably felt pretty loose and relaxed after getting those five runs – she can start mowing you down,“ Nance said. ”She was carefree, pitched hard and they played good defense behind her."