Makenna Ondrey strikes out 17, Caitlin Talty drives in 3 as Streator finishes sweep of Lisle

STREATOR – Following her complete-game shutout at Lisle on Monday, Streator softball coach Louis Ondrey considered giving his ace pitcher – and daughter – an afternoon off from pitching duties in Tuesday’s home series finale with the Lions.

Much to his delight and Lisle’s dismay, she convinced him otherwise.

Makenna Ondrey didn’t quite throw another shutout, but she did limit the Lions to one earned run while striking out 17 in the Bulldogs’ Illinois Central Eight Conference series-sweeping 8-2 win Tuesday at the SHS Athletic Fields.

“I’m definitely happy things are starting to come together for us,” said Streator’s ace, whose final line included seven innings worked, two runs (one earned), three hits, three walks and the 17 strikeouts. “We’re cheering more, and we’re making our plays better. ... We’re starting to get it together and see the confidence in everyone.

“I feel like when [we’re out of sync], I tend to put too much pressure on myself, and I don’t throw as many strikes. But when I feel like I and my team have the confidence, we do a lot better with less pressure.”

The victory lifts Streator to 9-17 overall, 5-7 in the ICE. Lisle, with the loss, falls to 4-14 overall, 0-12 on the league loop.

“Makenna looked great,” Coach Ondrey said. “She threw last night, and it was up in the air [whether she would start Tuesday’s game]. I was talking to the coaches about starting C.T. [Caitlin Talty] today, but Makenna came to the game and goes, ‘Coach, can I have the ball?’

“When a kid comes confident, you let ‘em have it. And, yeah, she kept them off balance pretty much the whole game.”

Streator led throughout, as after Makenna Ondrey struck out the side 1-2-3 in the top of the first inning, she smacked a one-out double in the bottom half and came in to score on a Talty RBI single up the middle.

There at 1-0 is where things stood until the Bulldogs broke things open with a six-run fifth. Two Lisle errors, an RBI fielder’s choice from Morgan Kostal, a bases-loaded walk drawn by Alexcia Middleton and a Talty two-run double – giving her three RBIs on three hits for the day – provided the insurance.

It was needed. Lisle answered immediately with a pair of runs in the sixth, Maddie Cole driving them in with a one-out, two-run double to deep right-center, to climb to within 7-2.

“She did a very nice job coming up in that spot and being able to drive that ball for us,” Lisle coach Jennifer Zimmerman said. “We needed that.”

Streator countered, however, with a Mya Zavada solo homer over the fence in right-center.

“I was just trying to relax in the batter’s box,” Zavada said, “not think about what I was doing, just let my swing do its thing. Once it came off the bat, it felt really good. I kind of knew.”

Zavada’s senior classmate Makenna Ondrey then retook the circle and closed the sweep out with a 1-2-3 top of the seventh.

“I will say, I’m glad [Ondrey] is graduating,” Zimmerman said with a chuckle. “She’s really good, and I give her props. I wish her the best in her college career, but I’m glad she’s not going to be here. ...

“You know, we’re very young, and we had some kids not here to start the game due to AP testing. So we had some kids playing out of position, but I thought we did a nice job and definitely had a better showing today even though the score might not show it.”

Talty with her 3-for-3, three-RBI day led the Bulldogs offense, with Makenna Ondrey and Kieran Black adding two hits apiece to go with Zavada’s aforementioned homer.

Erin Bradley and Emily Bieniasz provided the Lions’ other two hits beyond Cole’s two-run double in support of losing pitcher Megan Bradley, who surrendered eight runs (four earned) on nine hits, one walk and five strikeouts.