Softball: Kendall Eslinger’s power, Abby Bukantis’ pitching help send No. 1-ranked Ottawa past Plano

PLANO – Kendall Eslinger giggled, and her eyes widened like saucers at the mention of her home run Wednesday.

Surprised? You could say so.

“I did not think I would hit it, but it went out,” said Eslinger, Ottawa’s lefty sophomore leadoff hitter. “It never feels like you’re going to hit one, but I did I guess.”

The Pirates’ season sure has been a hit so far, and the hits keep coming.

Pitchers Abby Bukantis and McKenzie Oslanzi combined for three perfect innings and eight strikeouts, and Ottawa, ranked No. 1 in Class 3A in the Illinois Coaches Association poll, beat short-handed Plano, 15-0, in three innings.

It’s been a fun first season of high school softball for Eslinger, who ran to first base not expecting the ball to soar over the right field fence. Ottawa’s win was its seventh straight since a loss to Lincoln-Way West, ranked in Class 4A.

“I could kind of tell I got it good, but I didn’t think it went out. It felt good,” Eslinger said. “It’s been a fun year. All the games have been good.”

Ottawa (15-1) had 12 girls come to the plate in the eight-run first inning. Abi Claus’ two-run single, her second hit of the inning, capped the barrage. The Pirates’ first eight batters reached in a seven-run second inning with Ryleigh Stehl singling in two runs and Piper Nanouski adding an RBI single.

Bukantis, meanwhile, struck out the first five batters she faced and fielded a comebacker for the sixth. Bukantis, a University of Nebraska-Omaha commit, is one of a core group of players back from a team that reached a Class 3A sectional final in 2019 with sights set on even greater things. Bukantis and the Pirates are a week removed from perhaps their best win of the season, 3-0 over Kaneland.

“I’m really proud of this team,” said Bukantis, who has come back strong this season after shoulder surgery a year ago. “We’ve done really good this year against teams that are difficult. I thought we were going to be really good because we have a good pitching staff, and our team can hit really good, and we work well together as a team.”

Plano (1-13) was competitive with Ottawa in the teams’ first meeting, a 7-3 Pirates win April 26. But the Reapers had one pitcher leave the team, and a second pitcher went down with an injury.

“We’re very limited,” Plano coach Dwayne Love said. “This season is about us getting on the field and learning and getting better. We don’t have a JV team, so we’re playing younger girls who have never seen a game like this before with the pandemic. Some of them, the last time they played was eighth grade, so we’re young, but they’re doing a great job holding together mentally.”

Plano has only four seniors back from the 2019 team that won the Interstate 8 Conference title before it was reconfigured – Grace Stevenson, Morgan Kee, Elizabeth Busboom and Emma Shores – and Shores fractured her foot in the first game against Ottawa. Busboom pitched a scoreless third Wednesday.

“A lot more challenging when you get a couple injuries and it sends things spiraling, but the girls are doing a great job of keeping their heads up,” Love said. “[Ottawa] is a good team. If you want to go watch a team in the playoffs, that would be a good team to watch.”