A pair of Three Rivers Athletic Conference (TRAC) West Division opponents will meet in the championship of the IHSA 2A Peoria Notre Dame Sectional, as Rockridge will take on Riverdale at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex Friday evening.
THE ROAD HERE
Rockridge (29-3-1) has started its 2024 postseason run right where the program left off after winning a third consecutive state championship last June. Senior pitcher Kendra Lewis has thrown 19 straight scoreless innings to start her final playoff run for the Rockets. In 23 career IHSA postseason appearances, Lewis is 23-0 with a 1.08 ERA. This season, she sports a 20-3 record, a 0.65 ERA, and 218 strikeouts, which has her career strikeout total up to 793.
This year, Rockridge cruised to a ninth consecutive regional championship with wins at home last week over Alleman, 10-0, and Brimfield-Elmwood, 2-0. In a 5-0 sectional semifinal win over IVC Wednesday, the Rockets scored two runs in the first and second innings to go ahead 4-0. In the fourth, Taylor Dieterich hit her team-leading 11th home run of the season to extend the lead to 5-0. Dieterich, along with Lewis and Charley Perkins provide a lot of offense out of the 1-2-3 spots in the lineup. All three have batting averages over .400 and have combined to hit 22 of Rockridge’s 28 home runs, along with 103 RBI between them.
Riverdale (20-14) won its second straight regional championship and third in four years last Friday with a 7-2 win over Kewanee in Port Byron. The Rams opened postseason play with a win in the regional semifinals last Tuesday, 8-4, against Knoxville. On Wednesday in Peoria, Riverdale knocked off the defending 1A state champions, St. Bede, 2-0 in the sectional semifinals. The Rams scored runs in the fourth and sixth innings of the game.
Junior right-handed pitcher Brie DeBlaey has been the winning pitcher in the Rams last two games. Across the regional championship and sectional semifinal, she allowed two runs in 14 innings on nine hits. She struck out six batters combined against Kewanee and St. Bede. This season, DeBlaey is 9-4 with a 2.33 ERA. She’s given up 107 hits and struck out 50 batters in 99 innings pitched.
On offense for Riverdale, junior catcher Breckin DeLaRosa has 16 home runs and 49 RBI to go along with a .513 batting average out of the leadoff spot. Senior shortstop Alexis Duke and sophomore first baseman Katie Cox have each hit six homers on the season for the Rams.
PREVIOUS MEETINGS
Rockridge swept Riverdale in the two conference meetings in April, 1-0 and 6-3.
On April 8, Lewis hurled a complete game shutout to lead the Rockets to a 1-0 win over the Rams. She allowed four hits and struck out eight batters in seven scoreless innings. She also drove in the lone run of the game in the bottom of the first inning. DeBlaey pitched for Riverdale that day and allowed one run on seven hits in six innings.
In the second meeting on April 11, Riverdale led 3-2 through five innings before Rockridge scored three runs in the top of the sixth and added another run in the seventh to win on the road, 6-3. Lewis was the winning pitcher in relief. She threw 3.2 scoreless innings, while giving up two hits and striking out six. DeBlaey was the losing pitcher for the Rams in the second match-up. She allowed three runs in 2.2 innings out of the bullpen.
POSTSEASON HISTORY
Rockridge
- 25 straight postseason wins
- 9 straight regional championships
- 7 straight sectional championships
- 9th straight sectional championship game appearance
- 13 sectional championships in program history (1996, 2003-07, 2016-23)
- 13-3 all-time in sectional championship games
- 17th “Super Sixteen” appearance
Riverdale
- back-to-back regional championships
- 3 regional championships since 2021
- 1 sectional championship in program history (2021)
- 1-1 all-time in sectional championship games
- 3rd “Super Sixteen” appearance
The winner of Friday’s sectional championship game advances to Monday’s super-sectional at Eastside Center in East Peoria to play either Beecher or Seneca.
First pitch between Rockridge and Riverdale is scheduled for 5 p.m., Friday. Pregame coverage on 102.3 FM, wrmj.com, and the WRMJ app will begin at 4:30 p.m.