Softball: Rikka Ludvigson, Oswego bats pour it on in the rain at Yorkville

YORKVILLE – Rikka Ludvigson screamed a little when she found out Oswego was playing Thursday, with good reason.

It was raining. The Oswego junior first baseman hates rain.

“I just hate being wet. My stuff is wet now, I have to dry it out, my feet are wet, everything is wet,” Ludvigson said. “I don’t think I’m going to ever get out of the shower tonight. I’m going to crank it up to hot.”

Ludvigson, for all that misery, sure didn’t hit like a fish out of water.

She reached base four times, came a homer shy of hitting for the cycle and scored three runs. Oswego, in a game played in a downpour throughout, poured it on offensively in a 21-11, five-inning Southwest Prairie Conference win on Yorkville’s all-turf field.

Oswego (20-8, 12-2) sent 14 batters to the plate in a nine-run second inning, and after Yorkville closed within 13-8, had 10 consecutive batters reach base in an eight-run fifth.

It kept the Panthers right on the heels of conference leader Minooka, a game back. And gave Oswego a sweep of the season series with defending SPC champ Yorkville (14-12, 7-5).

“We came in, we were ready to hit,” Ludvigson said. “Yorkville has had a run for four years. We wanted to stop that. This is our year.”

Ludvigson’s had a year.

Slotted between thumpers Kiyah Chavez and Jaelynn Anthony above her and, on Thursday at least, Aubriella Garza right behind her, all No. 5 hitter Ludvigson does is get on base. She’s hitting .390 with a .454 on-base percentage, her 24 runs scored tied with Anthony for third on the team.

She drew one of four first-inning walks Thursday, singled in the second and doubled and scored on Sabrina Zamora’s double in the third.

“She has some power, she has [two] home runs already, but she gets the bat on the ball and she is not going to strike out, so we can do some things,” Oswego coach Paul Netzel said. “She has been so consistent. She’s just so consistent, all year long, playing first base. I think she’s the best first baseman in the conference.”

Only six of Ludvigson’s 32 hits have gone for extra bases, but she hardly looked the part of a singles hitter with a triple into the gap that scored a run in the fifth.

“I was chugging on that triple. That was so insane, first triple of the year,” Ludvigson said. “I don’t usually hit the ball like that, but here we are.”

She doesn’t usually hold the bat like she did Thursday, either.

“I had a death grip on my bat,” she said. “I was praying I didn’t chuck it.”

The two teams, with just one common off day the last week of the season and forecasts not looking ideal, went ahead and played in the downpour.

It made for un-softball like softball.

The first eight pitches thrown by the Yorkville starting pitcher went for balls. Four pitchers between the two teams combined to issue 22 walks, and 10 errors were committed in the slippery conditions.

On one play, Regan Bishop’s infield chopper with the bases loaded in the fourth, Oswego committed three different errors, and all four runs came around to score, including Bishop.

“Obviously, the conditions don’t really help anyone,” Yorkville coach Jory Regnier said. “So many walks in this game and situationally how do you get anything going on both sides. With pitchers you’re only throwing fastballs and that’s not how you typically throw. We got the game in. Outside of what else we got out of it, I don’t know.”

The Foxes were coming off a 4-3 loss to Minooka, a game in which they led into the seventh. Jensen Krantz had two hits, reached base four times and scored three runs, and Bishop had two hits and four RBIs on Thursday.

“It showed what we’re capable of,” Regnier said. “Tough coming off that kind of game, and then in this. No doubt our girls battled but in this situation it’s tough.”

Kaylee LaChappell reached base five times and scored four runs, Marissa Moffett reached base four times and scored four runs, Garza was 4 for 5 with three RBIs and Chavez drove in four for Oswego. Anthony, who went the first four innings, struck out 10.

“Nasty day, miserable day, but the girls were psyched up,” Netzel said. “Big game is Monday but one day at a time.”

Oswego has won four straight, and scored 45 runs over the last three, setting up a showdown with Minooka on Monday for the conference lead.

“Huge game,” Ludgivson said. “Determines conference, basically.”