Oregon baseball beats Rock Falls 3-0 in regional semifinal: Thursday’s Sauk Valley roundup

Baseball

Oregon 3, Rock Falls 0: The third matchup was the charm as the Hawks shut out the Rockets after being swept in the regular season. Bryce Becker tossed 6 2/3 innings with 13 strikeouts, three walks and four hits allowed before Jack Washburn got the final out. Becker also had two RBIs and Washburn two hits at the plate. Ethan Matthews was saddled with the loss for Rock Falls after pitching a complete game.

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Oregon’s Avery Lewis puts down a bunt against Rock Falls in the Stillman Valley Class 2A Regional semifinal Thursday, May 22, 2025. (Alex T. Paschal)

Milledgeville 4, Pearl City 2: Bryson Wiersema pitched six hitless innings and struck out 14 before Karter Livengood and Kye Francis finished off the one-hitter. The third-seeded Wolves’ only two runs were unearned. Wiersema had three hits, and Micah-Toms Smith had two RBIs as the sixth-seeded Missiles advanced to Saturday’s Class 1A Eastland Regional final against the second-seeded Cougars at 11 a.m.

Sycamore 6, Dixon 3: The Dukes were out-hit 8-4 in the home setback. Brady Lawrence and Eli Kirchhoff had RBIs. Dixon has dropped nine straight games.

Softball

Putnam County 4, Newman 2: The Comets led 2-1 after four innings before PC took control with three runs in the fifth to advance to Friday’s Class 1A Fulton Regional final against the Steamers at 4:30 p.m. Brenleigh Cook led Newman with two hits.

Morrison 13, Somonauk 0 (5 inn.): Bella Duncan tossed a perfect game with 14 strikeouts to open the postseason as the Fillies had 15 hits. Duncan (four RBIs) and Elle Milnes (three RBIs) each hit home runs, and Ava Duncan and Madi Armitage had three hits apiece. Morrison advances to Saturday’s Class 2A Princeton Regional final against Princeton or Sandwich.

Oregon 4, Erie-Prophetstown 3: Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Oregon’s Ella Dannhorn tied the game with an RBI double before Lola Schwarz hit a walk-off sacrifice fly. Isabelle Berg pitched a complete game as the Hawks advanced to face Stillman Valley in Friday’s Class 2A Bureau Valley Regional final. Dannhorn and Madison Shaffer each had two hits in the win.

Durand 10, Forreston 0 (5 inn.): The Cardinals were held to one hit as they fell in the 1A regional semifinal matchup.

Boys track & field

Morrison wins sectional title: The Mustangs tallied 109 points to take first ahead of Lena-Winslow (91) and Bureau Valley (89). Milledgeville (46) was seventh, followed by Newman (39), Erie-Prophetstown (39) and Amboy (32). Fulton (17) was 12th, and West Carroll (2) was 14th.

Qualifying for state were Morrison’s Levi Milder (100, 200), Brady Anderson (100, 200), Isaiah McDearmon (1,600), Josh McDearmon (110 hurdles, 300 hurdles), Rylan Alvarado (long jump) and Lane Decker (300 hurdles); Amboy’s Joel Billhorn (400) and Henry Nichols (3,200); Newman’s Wyatt Widolff (800) and George Jungerman (discus); BV’s Andrew Roth (100 hurdles, 300 hurdles), Justin Moon (triple jump) and Landon Hulsing (shot put, discus); Milledgeville co-op’s Parker Krogman (300 hurdles); and E-P’s Nathan Punke (pole vault) and Demetree Larsen (long jump).

In the 4x100 relay, Morrison (Anderson, Alvarado, Zach Milder, Levi Milder) and Milledgeville (Adam Awender, Krogman, Konner Johnson, Draven Zier) qualified. Morrison’s same four qualified in the 4x200 and Milledgeville’s Carsten Wade joined Awender, Johnson and Zier to qualify.

Milledgeville, Newman, Morrison and E-P all had entries qualify in the 4x400. Newman’s Cody McBride, Widolff, Trevor Simpson and Briar Ivey won the 4x800, with E-P and BV also qualifying.