Softball: McKenzie Oslanzi, Ottawa survive 7 errors to beat Morris in 9 innings

MORRIS – Even though her defense wasn’t at its best, Ottawa senior pitcher McKenzie Oslanzi certainly was at her finest in the circle.

The Eastern Illinois recruit overcame a whopping seven errors by allowing five unearned runs, five hits and two walks while striking out 20 batters as Ottawa survived to earn a hard-fought, 7-5, nine-inning Interstate 8 Conference victory over Morris on Tuesday.

“When I saw all the errors early, I knew I had to lock in and focus in to keep us in the ballgame,” Oslanzi said. “I had good spin on my pitches, and my riseball was working well, so I just went with that.”

Ottawa stranded 15 on the day, but the Pirates (14-5, 8-1 I-8) were able to overcome and move into second place alone in league play behind undefeated La Salle-Peru (17-2, 6-0).

“When you think about going into extra innings after recording seven runs and 15 hits, it’s pretty unusual for sure,” Ottawa coach Adam Lewis said. “But then you look at the final box score and see seven errors and a bunch of runners left on base, and you can understand why this happened today. But McKenzie pitched very well and pulled us out of a bad spot when we needed her the most.”

Morris (15-5, 6-2) fell into third place as senior pitcher Ella Davis (9 IP, 7 R, 15 H, 7 K, 5 BB) took the loss.

“A cold day like today is usually a pitcher’s day, and [Oslanzi] took advantage of that, and we couldn’t lay off the off-speed pitches and her riseball, so credit to her,” Morris coach Jen Bamonte said. “But I don’t feel our hitters had good approaches at the plate today, and that’s not what we’re used to seeing. All those strikeouts should never happen, no matter how good a pitcher is throwing.

“We had opportunities to score more later in the game, but we just couldn’t get it done, so once again, credit to Ottawa.”

The Pirates struck first against Davis in the top of the first inning after a two-run triple from Kendall Lowery (four hits, four RBIs) that plated Hailey Larsen (two hits) and Ryleigh Stehl (two hits), who both singled earlier to give Ottawa a 2-0 lead after a half inning of play.

“I was really pumped that I was able to drive in those first two runs and get us going,” Lowery said. “But I never thought this game would change so much after that.”

That’s because the Pirates booted the ball four times in the bottom of the first inning.

Morris leadoff batter Addison Stacy chopped a ball just past the plate, and the ensuing throw to first base sailed down the right field line into foul territory. Stacy scampered all the way home to cut the Ottawa lead to 2-1.

Three more Pirates errors followed, and Morris led 3-2 after one inning.

Morris would add another unearned run in the bottom of the third. Ottawa committed another pair of miscues as Morris went up 4-2 after junior Elaina Vidales’ RBI single that plated courtesy runner Makenna Boyle, who subbed in when Davis led off and reached on an error.

But Oslanzi steadied her troops from there, recording one-two-three innings in the fourth and in the fifth with four strikeouts before the Pirates touched Davis with two runs in the top of the sixth after another RBI from Lowery that tied the score at 4-4.

From there, Oslanzi would ring up two more punchouts in the bottom of the sixth and the seventh that sent the game into extra innings.

Davis and Oslanzi dueled it out until the top of the ninth, when the Pirates got to Davis with three runs courtesy of run-scoring singles from Larsen and Lowery that help put Ottawa ahead 7-4 entering the bottom of the ninth.

The Pirates committed their seventh error, which led to another unearned Morris run, but Oslanzi was able to get by the mistake once again and lead her team to victory after recording her 20th strikeout.

“This was a tough game for us when we weren’t playing our best, but we got through it,” Oslanzi said. “Now we need to refocus and hopefully win conference moving forward.”