ROCHELLE — The Lady Hubs varsity softball team opens the 2018 season against Stillman Valley on Monday, and Rochelle head coach Lindsay Suess will be looking for the girls to build upon the improvements they made throughout last season.

“I think we have a great group of girls who are willing to put hard work in to have a better season,” Suess said. “We improved so much last year even if our record didn’t show it. I think that our girls continued to fight no matter what the situation was, and we had big games against Plano and Kaneland.”

Three-year starter Teddi Hacaga will return for her fourth varsity season this year. Hacaga started at catcher last season, and Suess said Hacaga will see time in the infield this season along with junior Becca Bunger. Suess said that junior Maddi O’Rorke will be called on for catching duties this year.

“We need Becca and Teddi to be the leaders, and as a whole we need to minimize our errors,” Suess said. “We want to play clean games. We understand that we cannot give the other team any outs in order to be successful.”

Senior Britney Salinas will anchor the Rochelle outfield after taking home First-Team All-Conference honors from the Northern Illinois Big 12 last season. Salinas will likely be joined by seniors Sarena Abdallah and Johnice Collins, who battled injuries last season. Suess also said that junior Mandi Lamb could contribute in the outfield this season.

Seniors Faith Roush and Jessie Meyers are both returning from last year’s squad as well, and the two girls will headline Rochelle’s pitching staff.

“We need our outfielders to stay consistent and healthy throughout the season,” Suess said. “We are looking for them to be our leaders on the field… We want to improve out batting averages and lessen our fielding errors… To be successful our pitchers need to get ahead and stay ahead of batters.”