Richmond-Burton gets knocked out by North Boone for second year in a row

RICHMOND – Richmond-Burton‘s expectations are sky high.

The Rockets entered Saturday’s Class 2A R-B Regional final against North Boone searching for their fifth regional championship in a row.

And, hopefully, a lot more.

“It’s the philosophy of the program. We’re going to play fast, we’re going to play aggressive and we’re going to give it our all, or you’re not going to play,” R-B coach Tylar Stanton said. “They know the expectations. ... There’s no quit, always fight in these girls.”

For the second year in a row, however, it was the Vikings who ended the Rockets’ dreams of a deep postseason run.

North Boone, last year’s state runner-up, connected on back-to-back home runs against R-B’s all-time strikeout leader Hailey Holtz in the top of the sixth inning to take a 5-1 lead, and the Vikings held on to defeat the Rockets 5-4 and advance to the Marian Central Sectional semifinals.

The Rockets finish the season at 21-10-1, just off last year’s record-setting pace of 25 victories.

Holtz, who had a perfect game with 17 strikeouts in the regional semifinal against Marian Central on Thursday, wiped tears away as North Boone celebrated on R-B’s field.

“My time here has been so amazing,” said Holtz, who finished with 901 career strikeouts. “I’ve always had great coaches and teammates. Even if I had a bad game, they always text me after like, ‘It’s OK. Keep you’re head up. You’re fine.’

“There’s no quit in us. We came back as much as we could today and I’m super proud. That’s how we’ve been all year.”

One of the Rockets’ seniors who stepped up Saturday was center fielder Madison Kunzer, who had not pitched in a game since May 9. After North Boone (23-7) hit home runs on consecutive pitches against Holtz, Kunzer was called on by Stanton to slow down the Vikings’ suddenly-hot bats.

Facing a 5-1 deficit, Kunzer walked the first batter but struck out the final two in the sixth.

Richmond-Burton added two runs in the sixth on the second solo homer of the day by junior catcher Rebecca Lanz and a sacrifice fly by senior first baseman Emerson Herrick on a ball that died a few feet in front of the fence to cut the deficit to 5-3.

Kunzer and Holtz, both seniors, have shared innings since freshman year.

“Hailey has been grooving recently, so (Kunzer’s) opportunities may be a little bit less than she would like or has gotten in the past, but whenever we’ve needed her, she’s done exactly what we need,” Stanton said of the St. Ambrose commit.

“Whenever she comes in, it’s not a drop-off. She’s beaten some big teams for us.”

Determined not to let its season end, R-B’s Jocelyn Hird led off the bottom of the seventh with a base hit and reached second on a groundout. After a groundout by senior Gabby Hird, North Boone intentionally walked Lanz with two outs.

With Kunzer up to bat, a wild pitch scored Jocelyn Hird with two outs. With the tying run on second, Vikings pitcher Courtney Troutt won an eight-pitch battle against Kunzer, striking her out on a 3-2 pitch.

“I just went up [in the final at-bat] and told myself, ‘This is it. Just try your best,’ ” said Kunzer, who pitched the final 1⅔ innings in relief of Holtz, allowing one hit and striking out two.

“When I came in, I was a little nervous, but I just started pitching like it’s a regular game. Didn’t put any more pressure on myself.”

North Boone (24-6) beat Marengo in a regional final a year ago before defeating R-B in a sectional title game. This season, the Vikings had to play their regional games in back-to-back days after rain pushed back the schedule by two days.

Holtz retired the first 10 batters, striking out seven of them. She finished with 10 strikeouts and no walks in 5⅓ innings, allowing five runs on six hits.

North Boone’s Khloe Osborne (two-run home run) and Avarie Torres (solo) knocked Holtz out in the sixth.

“It’s tough, you don’t have a lot of time to prepare,” North Boone coach Tim Fleming said. “We got in early this morning and went over the scouting report, how we wanted to attack her. We know against a good pitcher, we just got to stay patient. There’s going to be some opportunities at some point and that came true.”

Holtz graduates undoubtedly as one of the top pitchers in R-B history.

“Girls I’m friends with in school, out of school, the younger girls, we’ve been such a tight bunch,” said Holtz, who will play next year at Iowa State. “I’m always going to remember all our accomplishments.

“Making it to supersectionals (in 2022), everything. It’s been so much fun.”