Roosevelt High School softball is back on top of the PIL after taking down Cleveland 5-3 on Tuesday, May 20 in a defacto league championship game.

The Roughriders entered the matchup at home sitting at 13-4 in league play while the Warriors were a game back at 12-5, but the two had split two matchups before. A Cleveland win would have resulted in a tie for record, but the tiebreaker would go the Warriors way for the series win.

Roosevelt made sure that didn’t happen though thanks in large part to a four-run third inning and the stellar pitching from sophomore Ruby Frish.

Cleveland struck first in the top of the first after sophomore Vivian Schroedel started the game off with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from junior Clara Waldron. Junior Kailen Steffek followed behind with a RBI double to get the Warriors going.

PIL Pitcher of the Year favorite Jillian Lee, a Cleveland junior, attacked the strong Roosevelt top of the order with a couple strikeouts and a pop out with a lone single mixed in to preserve the 1-0 lead.

Both teams missed the scoreboard in the second, but the top of the Cleveland order came back with another run in the top of the third.

Schroedel walked and Waldron laid down another sac bunt to put a runner on second. Steffek reached on an error and Sara Cass hit a sacrifice fly to left field to bring home Schroedel from third.

However, the second time through the Roosevelt order wouldn’t be as successful for Cleveland.

Senior Zulaykha Armstrachan reached via an error, stole second and reached third on a groundout.

With two outs, freshman Annabella Murphy laced a single to right field to score Armstrachan and cut the deficit to 2-1.

Senior Livi Jones followed with a single to keep the two-out rally going and later scored with Murphy on a two-RBI double from Penny Thurston to center field.

Jeannie Ederer helped the cause by reaching on an error, scoring Thurston and making it 4-2 Roosevelt after three.

Cleveland stayed calm though, as seen by a single from Anabelle Sahler in the fourth followed by three walks to score another run and cut the deficit to 4-3 Roosevelt.

Roosevelt had another response though, this time being a RBI double from senior Leslie Homan to score Elliot Neves who had reached on a single. That pushed the lead to 5-3 Riders after four.

Cleveland went down in order in the fifth and could only muster one single in the sixth, putting the Warriors down to their final three outs.

In the seventh, Cleveland went down in order once more with a strikeout and two groundouts.

Frish, who has pitched nearly every inning this year for Roosevelt, finished the complete game with three runs allowed, two earned, on four hits along with nine strikeouts and five walks.

Thurston finished with a 3-for-3 day with two RBIs and one run scored. Murphy went 2-for-4 with an RBI and one run scored as well.

For Cleveland, Lee still had a strong day in the circle with five runs allowed, one earned, on nine hits over six innings. She also had 10 strikeouts and didn’t walk a batter.

For Roosevelt, the win gives the Riders the PIL title back after last winning it in 2023. A league title also means a home playoff game, which will take place Monday, May 26.

Cleveland finishes league play in second and receives an automatic bid to the playoffs, its first postseason appearance since 2017.

Rankings freeze on Thursday, May 22 where the two sides, along with Grant in third place, will learn their postseason matchups.

Final PIL standings

1. Roosevelt, 14-4 (16-7 overall)

2. Cleveland, 12-6 (12-14 overall)

3. Grant, 9-9 (10-15 overall)

4. McDaniel, 9-9 (10-14 overall)

5. Franklin, 9-9 (11-13 overall)

6. Ida B. Wells, 6-12 (9-16 overall)

7. Lincoln, 4-14 (6-14 overall)