Oswego East juniors Addyson Dunn and Danielle Stone make for quite the team on the softball diamond as pitcher and catcher.

Stone, who usually plays in the infield, has caught for Dunn since the two were up on JV as freshmen. Stone did again Monday, and Dunn was stellar in the circle.

They were quite the combo in the batter’s box, too.

Dunn knocked in the tying run with a hard-hit infield single in the bottom of the seventh.

Stone followed with the game-winner to drive in Olivia Owles. Oswego East rallied for two runs in the seventh to beat Lemont 2-1 to remain undefeated.

“These past couple games we’ve been down, but we keep our energy up,” Dunn said. “It’s our positivity. We know we can hit these pitchers. We just have to think smart, take the bad pitches, get hard contact on the good ones.”

Oswego East (6-0) scored 53 runs over its first five games, but was stymied for six innings by Lemont sophomore Mila Mardjetko. The Wolves had baserunners in all six innings, but went 1-for-14 with runners on.

That changed in the seventh as Lemont (1-3) brought on Claire Podrebarac in relief.

Maya Bobo reached on an infield hit off a Lemont fielder’s glove to start things, and Owles poked a single to left.

Katie Maday bunted, and the throw to third was dropped to load the bases.

Dunn followed with a hard smash off Podrebarac’s leg, the ball trickling away as the tying run came in.

“With the first pitcher we were having more trouble because she had a lot of up spin and people were chasing her,” Dunn said. “The new pitcher came in, we adjusted really quickly. She was pitching more down so it was easier to get those ground balls to move the runner and not pop up.”

Stone, who had doubled and singled in her previous two at-bats, wasted no time to walk it off.

She hit the first pitch in the hole between shortstop and third. Maday, running from second, hit the ball with her foot and obstruction was called but Owles’ winning run still counted.

“I just tried to hit the ball on the ground so the runner could come in,” Stone said. “When the pitcher got hit on the foot I got extra pitches to time her up. I was looking for any strike I could take to swing at.”

Lemont coach Chris Traina was confused as to the final umpire’s call, but not how her team lost the game.

“We didn’t make the plays, bottom line,” Traina said. “I thought our pitching did well. Mila pitched a good game. We tried to get Claire in to change things up and we didn’t back her up in the field.”

Mardjetko only struck out one, scattering six hits and a walk, but got help from her defense to keep Oswego East at bay.

Lemont turned a double play to end the first inning. Podrebarac made a diving catch in center to rob Makaylie Malburg of a hit with two out in the fourth and Stone on second.

Lemont broke up a scoreless game in the sixth as Podrebarac tripled and scored on a Caroline Painter sacrifice fly.

“I thought Mila did a really good job of what pitches she was throwing, and where she was throwing,” Traina said. “It came down to that last inning. We’ve got to back up our pitching.”

Especially with Dunn’s pitching at its peak.

She struck out six, and allowed just six hits. Dunn made a diving stop of a comebacker in the seventh to keep a runner at second from scoring, to set the stage for Oswego East’s late hitting heroics.

“Addy’s pitching was the best I’ve ever seen from her,” Oswego East coach Sarah Davies said. “Last year we had Ryenne [Sinta] catching but Addy and Dani still worked together. This year we matched her and Dani.

“Dani is smart, very methodical, understands what Addy can throw in certain situations and Addy is so composed. She has so much poise on the mound, she goes to the next pitch, trusts Dani.”

Oswego East is off to its best start since 2018, the year before Davies came aboard as head coach.

“This doesn’t usually happen here, it isn’t regular,” Stone said. “But I think we have a great team that can do great things this season.”