Last one standing

ROCK FALLS — Rochelle’s 9-10 Little League All-Stars knew they had no margin for error after opening the Rock Falls District Tournament with a 4-2 loss to Freeport on July 10.

The bats woke up, the fielding improved and the pitching went from good to great in the seven days that followed.

On Saturday morning, Rochelle won its fifth straight game and second in a row against Freeport to complete an improbable turnaround and advance to the Moline Sectional. Kyle Seebach pitched all six innings and Rochelle scored four runs in the fourth to win 5-2.

“It was do or die for us after one game,” Rochelle manager Rich Harvey said. “We were emotionally drained, but we played hard the entire tournament. There are a lot of great personalities on this team. It’s a good group of kids.”

Rochelle narrowly avoided elimination early in the tournament with an 8-7 win against Rock Falls and a 4-3 win against Sterling. In the three following games, Rochelle outscored its opponents 35-9.

“We didn’t play for almost two weeks prior to the first game of the tournament. I think that kind of hurt us at first,” said Harvey, who was assisted by coaches Kent Lodico and John Kisner. “Once we got back into our routine, we played the way I know they can. There were several kids that made great plays.”

Ehren Metzger, Ralfie Mancinas Jr., Kyle Eyster and Noah Mershon had RBIs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Seebach led off the frame with a single and Sam Johnson was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Riley Lodico also reached base with a bunt single and scored.

“Four of our runs were scored by kids who didn’t start,” Harvey said. “They came in and got us where we needed to be.”

Mershon scored Rochelle’s first run after tripling with one out in the third inning. Garrett Glosser drove him in with a single one batter later.

Seebach struck out three batters and held Freeport scoreless until the fifth inning. He also had nine putouts from the mound.

“It was a great effort,” Harvey said.

Friday

Metzger had a huge game with three hits, four runs and five RBIs in Friday’s 12-6 win against Freeport. The victory forced a decisive third game between the two teams the following morning.

Alex Harvey, Brendan Danekas, Jarod Scarbrough and Seebach scored two runs each and Cristian Burciaga had an RBI single. John Kisner added a double.

Metzger finished the tournament with nine RBIs and Harvey had eight. Seebach went 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA and Glosser was 2-0 with a ERA or 2.77.