The Ottawa softball team couldn’t get much going offensively in the early going Wednesday against La Salle-Peru ace Taylor Vescogni.

The Pirates did not have a hit until Rylee Harsted singled to left-center field with one out in the fourth inning before later scoring on an RBI double by Reese Purcell.

Ottawa really got the bats going in the fifth, batting around and scoring four runs on three hits to take the lead. The Pirates tacked on five more runs in the seventh then hung on to beat the Cavaliers 10-7 in an Interstate 8 Conference game in La Salle.

“One of the things we talked about is it’s hard to hit Taylor early, so it was trying to take some intel about what she was doing, what the ball was doing and get our timing down the first time through and attack later in the game,” Ottawa coach Adam Lewis said. “I thought they did a good job of sticking to their plan and executing it when we really needed it.

“Being on time and swinging at hittable pitches instead of chasing stuff out of the zone was our biggest adjustment.”

With two outs in the fifth, Piper Lewis ripped a hard ground ball through the infield for an RBI double.

Bobbi Snook walked and Harsted lined a shot off Vescogni for a single to load the bases.

Aubrey Sullivan smacked the ball to the fence in left field for a two-run double to chase Vescogni before Harsted raced home on a wild pitch to give Ottawa a 5-4 lead.

“I think we just knew what we were looking for,” Sullivan said. “We all knew where to stand in the box based off our previous at-bats. Our coaches did a really good job of telling us that too.

“Then the adrenaline from everyone else hitting just spreads through the whole lineup.”

The Pirates batted around again in the seventh to score five insurance runs.

Purcell hit an RBI double down the first-base line, Joslyn Rose brought home a run when she reached on an error, Snook hit a two-run single to center field and Lewis scored on an error after being intentionally walked for the second time in the game.

“Hitting is always contagious, so I think you just need one or two people to spark it and then everybody feels a little bit better when they go to the plate,” Adam Lewis said. “I think that probably had the most to do with it.”

The Pirates needed some insurance as La Salle-Peru rallied in the bottom of the seventh.

Lydia Steinbach started the inning with an infield single and Kelsey Frederick followed with a single through the left side.

Anna Riva hit an RBI single up the middle.

After back-to-back outs, Vescogni walked then Dagny Greer and Addison Piecha hit back-to-back run-scoring singles to bring the winning run to the plate with the bases loaded.

Ottawa relief pitcher Kennedy Kane induced a groundout to end the game and earn the win.

“We were inconsistent,” L-P coach Randy Huebbe said. “We started out really good. We have to protect the lead a little better than that. We’re just not to the point where we need to be and I don’t understand how we’re not. Ottawa is a really good team. They’re well coached and have good pitching. I have all the respect in the world for them. It’s more about what we can’t do or didn’t accomplish.”

The Cavs (13-11, 1-5 I-8) built a 4-0 lead with a sacrifice fly by Vescogni in the second and a three-run third that included an RBI single by Fredericks and a two-run home run by Riva for her eighth long ball of the season.

Ottawa improved to 14-6 overall and 5-2 in the conference to stay in the league race. Sycamore is 6-0 and Morris also is 5-2. The Pirates avenged a 3-1 loss to L-P on April 14.

“We were pretty upset after that first game, but being able to come back and win the second game is really important, and it’s really good for conference and postseason,” Sullivan said.

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Ottawa's Rylee Harsted slides in safely to home on a passed ball as L-P's Brianna Ruppert misses the tag on Wednesday, April 29, 2026 at the L-P Athletic Complex in La Salle. (Scott Anderson)