Softball: Maura Condon’s walk-off homer lifts Ottawa to 3A sectional title game

LEMONT – Ottawa’s Maura Condon didn’t hesitate to answer the question of what her mindset was before stepping into the batter’s box with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning of Tuesday’s Class 3A Lemont Sectional semifinal.

“I’m not going to lie. I was trying to hit a home run,” the sophomore third baseman said with a smile.

On a 2-0 pitch from Marian Catholic’s Katie Pollock, Condon blasted a towering homer – her fifth of the season – to left-center field to give the Pirates a 2-1 victory over the Spartans at the Lemont High School Sports Complex.

“My previous at-bat I just missed one, and I was seeing the ball really well,” Condon said. “Then, in that last at-bat with the count 2-0, I knew the pitcher was going to not want to go to 3-0 and have a chance to walk me. I just told myself before the pitch to relax and if it’s right there to go after it. It was a fastball right down the middle, and thankfully I was able to do both those things.”

Ottawa (26-5) advances to Friday’s 4:30 p.m. championship game against the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between Lemont and Joliet Catholic. This will be the program’s third sectional title appearance after also reaching that round in 2019 and 2021.

Marian Catholic ends the season at 21-11.

“[Maura] had a couple of pitches that were easy takes for balls, and when you see a hitter that is not afraid of taking pitches early in the count, you know they are really seeing the pitches well,” Ottawa coach Adam Lewis said. “[Pollock] was spinning the ball and spinning it well all game, but in that situation as a pitcher you almost have to make sure the next pitch is s strike. Fortunately for us it was, and Maura was able to put an excellent swing on it.”

In an extra-inning contest that saw the teams combine for only 11 baserunners, Marian Catholic grabbed a 1-0 lead off Pirates senior pitcher McKenzie Oslanzi in the third inning on a dropped third strike, a sacrifice bunt and an error. More damage was saved when a Spartans runner was cut down trying to advance to third on a relay from right fielder Aubrey Sullivan to shortstop Ryleigh Stehl to Condon.

Oslanzi allowed only two hits in nine innings and threw 86 of her 98 pitches for strikes, didn’t walk a batter and struck out 19 hitters, one off her own school record set this season against Morris. The Pirates senior retired 19 of the final 20 batters she faced.

“I really wanted to be aggressive today in the strike zone. After they got the run, I felt like I was really locked in and just had a lot of confidence that was the only run I was going to give up.”

—  McKenzie Oslanzi, Ottawa senior pitcher

She also came through at the plate, blasting a game-tying, opposite-field solo home run to left-center with one out in the sixth. It was her seventh round tripper of the season.

“I’ve had experiences pitching in close, high-pressure games like today, and for me it comes down to just taking what’s thrown at me and doing the best I can in those situations,” Oslanzi said. “I really wanted to be aggressive today in the strike zone. After they got the run, I felt like I was really locked in and just had a lot of confidence that was the only run I was going to give up.”

As for her long ball that cleared the fence by plenty?

“That at-bat I was really focusing on getting a good pitch to hit, and then hit it hard. I guess I was able to do that. It felt awesome off the bat.”

Ottawa had good scoring chances in the third, fourth, seventh and eighth innings, but each time Pollock (8 1/3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K) was able to strand Pirates runners at second base.

“I don’t say this lightly, but McKenzie was McKenzie today both in the circle and at the plate, and we needed her to be,” Lewis said. “She pitched solid all game, but the last few innings she was lights out. It seemed like as the pressure grew, so did her confidence.”