Sophomore smash powers Sterling

ROCK FALLS - Two freshman mistakes put Sterling behind Wednesday. Two more rookies made sure the Golden Warriors didn't stay down long. Freshman Lauren Schneiderbauer pulled Sterling within one run against Rochelle with a pinch-hit, ground-rule double in the fourth inning of the regional semifinal. Sophomore Caitlyn Thompson put the Warriors ahead one out later, when her fly ball cleared the center-field fence. The two hits keyed Sterling's four-run fourth and led to a 7-5 win against the 13th-seeded Hubs.

"I didn't even realize it was going to be close to a home run," said Thompson, who was playing her fourth varsity game after a late-season call-up. "I had my head down, running as hard as I could, and all the sudden everybody started cheering."

Thompson's blast put the fifth-seeded Warriors ahead 5-4 after Schneiderbauer's double brought them within 4-3. Rochelle took a 4-2 lead with three unearned runs in the top of the fourth with the help of two errors by Sterling shortstop Sophia Aponte.

"It felt even better to get those hits to make those errors not matter," Schneiderbauer said.

Sterling scored another run in the fourth when Sarah Rodriguez's single drove in Maribel Frias, who followed Thompson's homer with a double. The Warriors (14-14) went ahead 7-4 in the fifth, when Abbi Staples doubled and scored on Niki Rivera's single.

Rodriguez drove in two runs for Sterling, and she, Frias, Schneiderbauer and Kelli Long had two hits apiece. Long (10-10) allowed seven hits and one earned run in her battle against fellow lefthander Jessica Jones (10-13).

Long also scored two runs, on hits by freshmen Aponte and Schneiderbauer.

"I'm surprised and overwhelmed at those girls," Long said. "For them to come in here as freshmen and sophomores and do that in this situation just makes me very happy."

Rochelle pulled to within 7-5 in the sixth, when Kristi Alfano reached on a fielder's choice and scored on shortstop Abbi Staples' throwing error. Jones and Erica Sebree had two hits and an RBI apiece for Rochelle (15-15), and Alfano added another RBI.

"You feel good up 4-2, but you just have to give Sterling credit," Rochelle coach Brian Mungai said. "They hit the ball hard, and when you do that good things happen."