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LA SALLE – While the Ottawa Pirates stranded nine and had a pair of baserunners thrown out at the plate in the top halves of innings, the La Salle-Peru softball team was taking full advantage of the opportunities provided by 13 hits and five Ottawa errors.
The result was a 10-3 Cavaliers victory early Monday evening at the beautifully expanded L-P Athletic Complex in the first of the archrivals’ two Interstate 8 Conference meetings this season. The Pirates and Cavs are scheduled to complete the series May 8 at King Field in Ottawa.
“We have a good-hitting team, and we hit when we had to today,” Cavaliers coach Randy Huebbe said. “I’m a hitting coach, and that’s why I bring in coaches who handle pitching and other stuff. We’ll always hit. Sometimes it takes us awhile to get going, and today it took us an inning or two, but then we got going.
“We played really well.”
The Pirates (12-8, 2-3 Interstate 8) scored first on Piper Lewis’ bases-loaded hit-by-pitch in the first inning. In a sign of things to come, however, they left the bases loaded when Cavaliers starter Taylor Vescogni (7 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 4 BB, 10 K) struck out the next two batters to escape without further damage. Ottawa went 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position on the day.
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La Salle-Peru (12-9, 4-1) tied it 1-1 in the bottom of the second, Kesley Frederick scoring on the first Ottawa fielding error of the day, then in the third took a lead it would build on for the rest of the afternoon. Callie Mertes’ one-out single led to her scoring on another Pirates error, and Frederick added an RBI single to make it 3-1.
The Cavs added insurance runs in every ensuing turn at bat, with RBI hits coming from Mertes (2 for 4, 2 RBIs), Allie Thome (1 for 4, RBI), Vescogni (2 for 4, RBI), Frederick (3 for 3, 2 RBIs) and leadoff hitter/catcher Addie Duttlinger (3 for 4, RBI).
“Coming into the game we were all, obviously super excited, because it was Ottawa,” said Duttlinger, who singled in the first, fourth and sixth innings. “I thought we did a great job keeping our composure, though, in situations.
“We’re a very young team, so it took a little bit for us to get used to [each other], but I’m very proud of where we’re at. Everybody’s stepped up. It’s not just one or two of us.”
La Salle-Peru batted .316 (6 of 19) with runners in scoring position. Still, only half of the 10 runs charged to Pirates pitcher Peyton Bryson (6 IP, 5 ER, 13 H, 2 BB, 7 K) went down as earned.
“[Five] errors, and that’s not counting the throwing to wrong bases, leaving bases open,” Ottawa coach Adam Lewis said. “It was something every single inning.”
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Piper Lewis finished with two hits and the RBI on the first-inning hit-by-pitch for Ottawa. Aubrey Sullivan added a hard-hit RBI double to left-center in the visitors’ fourth, with the Pirates’ final run coming in the seventh when Hailey Larsen reached on an error and scored on a wild pitch.
On a day fielding proved difficult, with L-P committing two errors of its own, both center fielders – the Cavaliers’ Karmen Paino and Pirates’ Kendall Lowery – recorded spectacular catches.
Ottawa is scheduled back in action Wednesday, hosting Rochelle in another Interstate 8 contest.
L-P also is home for an I-8 game Wednesday, hosting Kaneland.