Rochelle’s Junior League All-Stars advance to the state tourney



MILAN — There are only five Junior League teams still playing in Illinois. Thanks to a much-needed defensive resurgence, Rochelle’s All-Star squad is one of them.

Rochelle topped Peru 4-3 on Monday and 6-1 on Tuesday to advance to the state tournament in Elgin. For manager Bryan Scarbrough’s squad, it was a remarkable turnaround from the sectional opener, when Peru capitalized on a multitude of Rochelle fielding miscues to win 12-7.

“We went ahead by three in our first game and thought it would be a cakewalk. After that, it was error, error, error,” Scarbrough said. “[Peru] probably came into the second game a little overconfident. They had their best pitcher going and they’d already beaten us.”

Rochelle went ahead 3-0 after one inning on Monday, but Peru tied the game with three runs in the top of the fifth. Jake Scarbrough singled in the bottom half of the frame and scored on a single by Luke Manning to put Rochelle ahead 4-3 and Tyler Joyce pitched two shutout innings to preserve the win for starter TJ Maynard.

“I was thinking ‘oh no, not again’ when we went ahead in the first inning because the same kind of thing happened [in the 12-7 loss],” Scarbrough said. “This time, we didn’t let our guard down.”

Luke Manning pitched a complete game four-hitter in the championship game while Scarbrough and Maynard had two hits each. Rochelle broke a scoreless tie with four runs in the third inning.

Rochelle – who will open the state tournament against Salem on Saturday - beat East Moline 11-2 last Sunday to set up the two rematches with Peru.

“We’re all excited,” Scarbrough said.



For the complete article see the 07-23-2010 issue.