Ottawa slips past JCA 2-1 to open the season

OTTAWA – The Ottawa softball team finally was in action Saturday at King Field against Joliet Catholic after a weather delay earlier in the week.

The Pirates scored the go-ahead run on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the sixth to slip past the Angels 2-1.

Ottawa starting pitcher Addie Russell was solid throughout, tossing a complete game while scattering eight hits, allowing no earned runs, with one walk and three strikeouts.

“I was a little nervous, and in the first inning I wasn’t throwing as hard as I should have been and trying to place the ball a little too fine,“ said Russell, who pitched 14 innings as a freshman last year. ”I felt more relaxed after the first inning. Getting through that first one, then getting a chance to take a breath in the dugout helped me for sure.

“I feel like my riseball was my key pitch today. I was able to get them to chase some and also got a few popouts with it. My other pitches were OK, and for the most part I’m happy with how I hit my spots.”

Ottawa took a 1-0 lead in the first as leadoff batter Piper Lewis singled to center and advanced to third on an error before scoring on a wild pitch.

Joliet Catholic tied the game in the second Callan Kinsella flared a single to right, stole second and eventually scored on a two-out throwing error on a bunt by Emma Mackey.

“We looked rusty at the plate, pretty good on the bases, played solid defense and got super great pitching from Addie,” Ottawa coach Adam Lewis said. “Addie was locked in right from the first batter and did an excellent job of pitching out of a couple of tight situations late in the game to keep things tied. She was really spinning the ball and was hitting her spots consistently.

“I think today showed a lot of things we need to work on, but it was just nice to finally get out here, play a game and start finding out some things about ourselves and our team. Getting a win was also nice, too.”

Both sides left base runners on second and third in the fifth.

In the Ottawa sixth, the Pirates loaded the bases with one out on a walk to Resse Percell and singles by Kilah Figenbaum and Rylee Harsted. Then after a force out at the plate, Avery Leigh drew an RBI walk to push her team ahead for good.

In the JCA seventh, Leah Pena reached on a leadoff hit, advanced to third on a stolen base and sacrifice bunt by Molly Ryan, but Russell retired the next hitter to end the game.

“I feel like we’ll eventually find our rhythm at the plate, stringing multiple hits together, but it just hasn’t happened for us in our first two games,” JCA coach Tina Kinsella said. “We had a few opportunities with runners in scoring position and just couldn’t get that next hit when we needed it. Some of that comes with the weather letting us be consistently outside and playing games.

“I thought our defense today was really good. We have a number of underclassmen out there and they are still getting a feel for the speed of the varsity game.”

Keigan Sprovieri started the game for the Angles and went five innings, allowing three hits, a run and a walk while striking out seven. Nina Sebahar, who took the loss pitching the sixth, struck out two.

“Keigan going to be an inning-eater for us this season to take some pressure off Nina,” coach Kinsella said. “Keigan did a great job of keeping the Ottawa hitters off-balance and pitched with confidence. We were maybe planning on pitching Keigan two or three innings because she throws soft and Nina throws hard, but she did a good job of staying away from hard contact.”

Ottawa is hosting Serena on Tuesday, while JCA is at Tinley Park on Monday.