Ottawa wins pitcher’s duel over Streator 2-0

OTTAWA – In a game where the pitchers on both sides were solid throughout, the Ottawa softball team was able to score single runs early and late against rival Streator while Pirates sophomore pitcher Addie Russell made those runs stand up in a 2-0 victory Thursday at King Field.

Russell scattered three singles, walked one and struck out six in the complete-game shutout. She threw 54 of her 75 pitches for strikes.

“Addie has the ability to spin the ball through the strike zone, meaning her pitches have a lot of movement from her hand to the catcher’s glove,” Ottawa coach Adam Lewis said. “None of her pitches are just straight, everything moves, and that can be tough to hit.

“She’s off to a really great start for us. I knew she’d be OK, and she’s even exceeded my expectations already. She pitches with a ton of confidence and trusts her defense to make plays. I’m excited to see what she can do as the season goes along.”

For the Bulldogs (0-4), senior Makenna Ondrey allowed six hits, one walk with nine strikeouts and an unearned run in the first inning and a solo home run in the sixth.

The Pirates (2-1) took the lead for good in their first at-bats as Piper Lewis singled to left, scampered to third on an outfield error on the play, and then scored on a wild pitch. In the sixth, Lewis smacked a two-out pitch over the right field fence for a homer.

“My rise ball was working pretty well for me, and I was able to mix in my drop ball as well,” Ondrey said. “I feel like other than the [pitch to Lewis in the sixth] I felt like I hit my spots pretty well. That pitch was supposed to be down, but it was up.

“I felt like this was the first game this year where we came in relaxed as a team. I think we have all been collectively just too tight. Today we were loose, having fun and just more cheerful. We didn’t win, but we put up a pretty good fight.”

[ Photos: Ottawa shuts out Streator 2-0 in softball ]

Piper Lewis said the pitch on the home run was exactly what and where she was looking for.

“I had that same pitch in my previous at-bat and I let it go,” she said. “I normally get pitched outside, but today I saw way more pitches inside. I was looking for that exact pitch again in that spot and was fortunate to not only get it but to put a good swing to it.

“We talked about coming to games with more intensity. Not that we haven’t been in our first couple games mentally, but that we needed to step up a little with that. I think we did a good job with that today.”

Streator put runners on first and third with one out in the seventh, but Russell was able to induce a popout and groundout to end the game.

Bobbi Snook singled and tripled for Ottawa, while Mya Zavada, Morgan Kostal and Alexcia Middleton all singled for Streator.

Ottawa’s Rylee Harsted made a fine play at second base in the fifth, while Streator’s Caitlin Talty made a pair of nifty plays at shortstop.

“Our first three games this season I feel we played timid defensively, but today I thought we did a very good job going after the ball,” Streator coach Louis Ondrey said. “We played in the field with confidence, and it’s something we talked about for a long time yesterday during practice.

“We hit a couple of balls early in the game that were right at them, and that’s been something that’s happened to us a lot so far this season. But it’s softball and that’s going to happen. Then in the seventh we put ourselves in a pretty good spot but just couldn’t get that next hit that we needed.

“Today we showed a little of the type of team we can be. It didn’t produce a win, but I saw a lot of good things and hopefully we can build off today.”

Ottawa played on Friday hosting Newark, while Streator will play the Norsemen in a doubleheader Saturday.