Bobbi Snook homers in 3-0 Ottawa win over Addison Trail

OTTAWA — As the ball she hit sailed beyond the leftfield fence but just a couple of feet foul on Thursday, Ottawa’s Bobbi Snook readied to step back in the batter’s box with a frustrated kick at the dirt.

Two pitches later the Pirates’ sophomore catcher got the same pitch in the same location.

“I was so mad that it went foul,” Snook said. “The next pitch was a changeup, and I was able to just kind of fight it off. I just said to myself ‘I’m not going to let (Addison Trail pitcher Marisa Lloveras) beat me with another high and inside pitch.’ I wasn’t really thinking home run but more hit the ball hard somewhere.”

Snook then hit a towering blast, this one staying fair by 10 feet and the hosts went on to post a 3-0 victory over the Blazers.

Ottawa improved to 5-2 on the season, while Addison Trail fell to 5-4 and had a three-game winning streak snapped.

“(The homer) was set by her spoiling the changeup,” Ottawa coach Adam Lewis said. “After that big first swing, she stayed back and instead of being anxious and popping it up, just kind of shot it off foul to the right to get another pitch.”

Ottawa grabbed the lead for good in the third as Annamaria Corsolini led off with a single, stole second and scored on a two-out base hit to center by Snook, whose solo homer came in the fifth.

The Pirates then tacked on a run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Piper Lewis. Adelynn Russell finished off a complete-game three-hitter in which she walked one, struck out 13 and fired 72 of her 102 pitches for strikes.

“Addie was really good today and really competed,” Snook said. “She was hitting her spots, and all of her pitches were really moving. She just did a great job of staying in or just out of the strike zone.”

Addison Trail received singles from Giuliana Clementi, Emma Caniglia and Sophia Guillen in the contest, while Lloveras (6 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K) suffered the loss.

“I thought Marisa threw the ball really well and we played pretty solid defense,“ Blazers coach Mark Olson said, his squad leaving three of their five runners on base in scoring position. ”We just made a couple of mistakes; one was on me in positioning the defense which allowed a base hit and then the other was missing a location on the home run pitch.

“(Russell) did a good job against us, especially getting first pitch strikes. That said, we also didn’t do a great job in our two-strike approach.

“This was a good softball game with a couple of pretty teams. It wasn’t a win for us, but hopefully we learned a few things today.”

Snook and Corsolini, the No. 9 hitter in the Pirates order, both had two hits.

“I figured the bottom of our order would come through more and more as the season went along,“ coach Lewis said. ”To have four of our nine hits - including two from Annamaria — come from the seven through nine spots was great to see.”

Ottawa returns to action on Saturday at Rock Falls where it will play the host Rockets as well as Rockridge. Addison Trail plays at La Salle-Peru on Friday.