George Shumway’s walk-off finally finishes Ottawa’s 10-inning regional win over Streator

PONTIAC – As Thursday’s Class 3A Pontiac Regional semifinal drew on inning by inning, and scoring chance after scoring chance was turned away, those few and far between opportunities began to take on a palpable weight as hitters stepped to the plate.

Finally, with two out in the bottom of the tenth inning of a scoreless game between the Ottawa Pirates and Streator Bulldogs, George Shumway successfully shouldered that burden.

Ottawa’s No. 8 hitter delivered a two-run double over twisting backward Streator left field Carson Shinkey’s head, scoring Colt Bryson with the winning – and only – run in the Pirates’ dramatic 1-0 victory over the Bulldogs. Prior to Shumway’s walk-off flyball, the old rivals had combined to go 0 for 18 with runners in scoring position.

“I feel great,” Shumway said after getting swarmed by his teammates at second base. “[Ottawa head coach Levi] Ericson told me, ‘Crowd the plate, try to take it the other way,’ so I tried to do just that, and it worked. ...

“Everyone was telling me it was just another at-bat, so I just thought of it like that.”

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Ottawa's Jaxon Cooper leaps on the back of teammate George Shumway after hitting the game winning run during the Class 3A Regional semifinal game against Streator on Thursday, May 29, 2025 at Pontiac High School. (Scott Anderson)

After inning after inning of failing to come through, the Pirates’ – now 18-16 heading into a Saturday regional championship game matchup with regional top seed Joliet Catholic – game-winning bottom of the tenth started inauspiciously enough.

Streator relief pitcher Isaiah Weibel retired the first two Ottawa hitters before Bryson sent a sharp single through the left side. Bryson moved up to second on a walk drawn by Lucas Farabaugh, then scampered home with the winning run on Shumway’s shot to left.

“Credit to our bottom of the order there,” Ericson said, “because I think all of that was with two outs. ... George is a kid who started the year on the sophomore level and came up due to injuries and kind of found a home, played well for us. Credit to him for having two of his five hits from the [No.] 8 spot.”

Shumway finished as the game’s only player with multiple hits on a day hits were awfully hard to come by.

Starting pitchers Adam Swanson (8 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 4 BB, 12 K) and Jake Hagie (7 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 2 BB, 8 K) were spectacular before nearing their pitch counts and being forced to leave. Relievers Farabaugh (win, 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K) and Weibel (2 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 3 K) were awfully tough on hitters as well, though like their predecessors each had to wiggle out of jams late until Shumway’s knock ended the drought and drove home the contest’s lone run.

“Jake was great ... and Swanson, you’ve got to tip your cap to him,” said Streator coach Beau Albert, his Bulldogs finishing the spring 11-21. “There were times we’d have guys on and get up 2-0 on him, and he got us. He’s a great pitcher.

“I told the guys, ‘It was a well-played game defensively, we pitched well, both Hagie and Weibel. We just couldn’t come up with a clutch hit when we needed to.’

“It was a fantastic regional game.”

Ericson agreed.

“Credit to Hagie,” he said of the Streator southpaw. “He’s a kid who’s just terrified me on the mound ... and I’m just tired of seeing him. And Adam, you know he’s going to come in and pound the zone, and that’s what he did. ...

“A lot of great pitching today. Credit to all of them.”

Shumway (single, double, RBI), Bryson (single, run scored), Swanson (infield single) and Jace Veith (double) provided Ottawa’s five hits. For Streator, it was Blaize Bressner, Joe Hoekstra and Weibel, all singles.

First pitch of Saturday’s JCA-Ottawa regional championship game is scheduled for 11 a.m.

“We have absolutely nothing to lose coming here to play JCA for a regional championship,” Ericson said. “We know what we’re up against, we know we’re going against one of the top arms in the state. We just have to have a good practice, fine-tune our offensive approach, do what it takes to compete and win a regional.”