Ottawa freshman Teagan Darif has already produced some solid performances for the Pirates softball program in her rookie prep season.

She added another to the list in Friday’s win at Seneca.

Darif smacked solo homers in both the first and third innings, then threw out a Fighting Irish runner trying to advance to third in the sixth. Those efforts combined with the complete-game pitching of Addie Russell helped Ottawa top Seneca 2-1, handing the host Fighting Irish their first loss of the season.

Ottawa – now 15-6 – won for the sixth straight game. Seneca dropped to 23-1.

“Teagan, I mean what can you say? She was very, very good today,” Ottawa coach Adam Lewis said. “She homered twice off of one the best pitchers not only in our area, but the state, and then throws out a runner at third in a key situation.

“She had quite the day and picked a great day to have it.”

Darif started Ottawa on its winning way by taking a 1-2 pitch from Seneca starting and losing pitcher Tessa Krull over the wall in straight-away left field. It was the first run Seneca had allowed in its last 36 innings spanning the past eight games.

Then in the third, Darif fouled the first pitch she saw off her leg, then sent the next pitch she saw from Krull over the wall in left-center to make it 2-0.

“For me at the plate, it’s all about having confidence in myself no matter the situation,” Darif said. “I came into today with a really good mindset and approach. I just wanted to make sure if I got a good pitch to hit that I was on time and watched the ball all the way to the bat. [Krull] is too good of pitcher to go up there guessing. You just have to have trust in your ability to adjust.

“I feel like both pitches were the same, both were fastballs right down the middle and a little bit up. They both felt really good off the bat. I’m just glad I could help the team, and hopefully we can continue to play like we have been.”

Seneca threatened in both the third and sixth innings, but came up empty.

In the third, Graysen Provance and Emma Mino reached on consecutive singles with one out. But on a forceout at second on a grounder, Provance tried to score from second and was thrown out.

In the sixth, Provance led off with a base hit and promptly stole second. The next batter hit a fly ball to deep center, where Darif made a catch and fired a perfect strike to third to get Provance attempting to tag.

The Irish broke through in the bottom of the seventh as Hayden Pfeifer led off the inning with a home run to right to cut the lead in half. But Russell struck out the next three batters to end the game.

“Addie pitched an incredible game against a lineup that, top to bottom, can really hit,” Lewis said. “She showed the competitiveness she has all game, but especially in the seventh when after she gives up a homer to start the inning she comes back and strikes out the next three batters.”

Russell allowed eight hits with no walks and six strikeouts. Krull gave up two hits, no walks and fanned six in three innings. Pfeifer came on to pitch in the fourth and retired 12 of 13 batters she faced, including nine via strikeout.

Rylee Harsted doubled for Ottawa, while Provance and Lexie Buis each had two hits for Seneca.

“Those were two really good swings [Darif] put on those pitches,” Seneca coach Brian Holman said. “Nothing against anyone, but we hadn’t faced the kind of pitching we saw today in a few weeks. [Russell] is an outstanding pitcher, and I felt like we put together some pretty good at-bats and swings against her, but just couldn’t string enough of those things back-to-back.

“Hayden gave us the nice lift leading off the seventh, but then I thought we sped ourselves up a little, were a little too amped with the excitement. Russell did a good job of feeding off our aggressiveness there after the homer to close it out.”