Riverside Brookfield High School senior softball standout Ellie Megall will always remember completing back-to-back home runs as a freshman with 2024 graduate Zoe Levine at perennial power Marist.
“It was a great moment and really showed that anyone can compete with them, too,” said Megall, whose career with the Bulldogs as a four-year starter along with the other seniors ended with an 8-1 loss to the top-seeded host RedHawks in the Class 4A Marist Sectional semifinals.
The Bulldogs finished 24-10, winning 16 of their last 20 games and their first regional since 2022.
“We finished great. This score is not reflective of how this game or season went. I think we had an amazing finish, so I’m proud of my team,” Megall said. “In the beginning of the season we had a bit of a rough start and we were all nervous losing seniors from last year. We turned it around really quickly. We all just finally glued together and were finally able to play fully as a team.”
The Bulldogs achieved a second straight 20-win season with two senior starters – Megall and second baseman Ella Jurgens, who remembers being promoted to varsity as a sophomore and finally getting her first at-bat.
“It wasn’t even that good of a hit, but I was so excited,” Jurgens said. “I’m going to remember definitely my teammates. I love them all so much. This is the most fun season I’ve had out of any of my four seasons playing softball ever. Even though we lost this game, we went out with a really good game and I’m really proud of us.”
This also was the first year as head coach for Emma Jarrell, who switched coaching roles this season with assistant Doug Schultz, the former head coach. The graduates from last year’s senior group included Levine (DePaul) and Emily Organ (Bradley), among the program’s career leaders in several categories.
“A young team [this season] but we had a lot of senior leadership here that helped us win a lot of games,” Jarrell said. “We lost four starters. We didn’t know who was going to replace them so the freshmen came on strong. We have really strong sophomores and our returners, too, did really well. It was an entire team effort.”
The Bulldogs even scored first against Marist (35-3) in the top of the first inning on a two-out single by freshman Mia Melendez after Jurgens had a leadoff single and Megall walked.
But the RedHawks scored three in the bottom of the first with two outs on an RBI single and two-run double — after the first out was erased when first baseman Melendez was ruled to have her foot off the bag.
“We asked to appeal and they didn’t [reverse]. What are you going to do?” Jarrell said.
Marist added a run in the third with a double, single and sacrifice fly and four more in the sixth behind three singles and a double.
The Bulldogs’ strong finish helped them to a third-place 13-5 in their Upstate Eight Conference East Division debut. The “revenge tour” included victories over West Chicago, Glenbard East and Glenbard South after losing their first meetings.
Earning All-UEC were Megall (.461 batting average, 2 home runs, 35 runs batted in), junior shortstop Trinity Stevenson (.455, 32 RBIs) and Melendez (.458, 11 HR, 60 RBIs).
“Even though there were age differences, everyone clicked and had so much fun together. It just made softball fun and having it be fun, everybody played their best,” Megall said.
“I think honestly what turned us around was the bond we all kind of started, hanging out outside of practice,” Stevenson said. “We will miss the seniors so much, but I think we’ll be a solid team as long as we just keep the connections growing.”
Freshman pitcher Amelia Pytel (11-3, 2.53 earned run average, 169 strikeouts in 108 innings, .282, 3 HR, 17 RBIs) and Jurgens (.431, 26 RBIs) were honorable mention All-UEC. Melendez and Pytel were huge additions along with freshman left fielder Brailyn Naylor.
“I’m just happy that I could help my team,” said Melendez about her team-leading power numbers. “Without their support I don’t think I would do what I could do. They really supported me throughout the season.”
Pytel had six pitching outings with double-digit strikeouts, including a season-high 19 in the victory over Glenbard South, May 13.
“Knowing we had lost to them before, we had to come in strong just to beat them,” Pytel said. “I really am happy [about this season] but also happy with my team. I’m glad we can all work together and they have my back, even when I’m not pitching.”
Marist lost to Oswego 5-1 in Monday’s supersectional.
RBHS boys volleyball
The Bulldogs won 11 of their final 15 matches this season enroute to sharing the championship in their first season in the Upstate Eight Conference’s East Division. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs (23-14), they lost again to Sandburg 25-19, 25-20 in the Sandburg Regional final, May 29, after also losing to the Eagles 25-14, 25-22 on May 21.
“They really had to earn their [regional] win,” said senior Alec Oltrogge. “Our mindset was to stay positive and play together every single point. We knew we were going to get frustrated, but we had to keep in mind that we had each other’s backs and we had to stay determined.”
Sandburg (36-5) earned its first trip to the state quarterfinals since 2016 and lost to fourth-place O’Fallon on Friday.
“I feel like we were a little better than the last time we played them,” RBHS coach Dan Bonarigo said. “We tried to prep for digging their big hitters. We just didn’t make enough of those plays to stay with them at the end.”
The Bulldogs shared the UEC East title with Glenbard East and West Chicago with 5-1 records. Earning all-conference were seniors Oltrogge (141 kills, 72 blocks), setter Liam Keohane (team-high 389 assists, 110 digs, 29 aces) and Jack Schejbal (team-high 146 kills). Oltrogge was All-Metro Suburban Conference in 2024.
The past three seasons, RBHS has captured the program’s first three conference titles and surpassed 20 victories twice.
“[This season] was definitely a success,” Bonarigo said.
“I kind of look at the 20-win mark, we’ve got to feel pretty good about that and we have a fairly competitive schedule.”
