PERU – LaSalle-Peru softball coach Randy Huebbe has known for quite some time that his Cavaliers have been looking forward to Thursday’s matchup with Ottawa, the No. 1-ranked team in the Illinois Coaches Associations’ most recent Class 3A poll.
In fact, he has had to remind his girls daily that they have other games on the schedule before that rivalry game and to focus on those first.
It turned out it was worth the wait and worth the anticipation.
The Pirates surged out to leads of 3-1 and 4-2 through the first 2 ½ innings, but then L-P put up a three-run home third – the key blow a two-run double by winning pitcher Evin Becker — to take the lead and ultimately hang on for a 6-5 victory over Ottawa at Veteran’s Park.
“I’ve had to really rein them in, I guess you could say, for the last week because after every game, all they would talk about was Ottawa. I had to tell them, ‘Hey, we have games before then, girls.’
— L-P softball coach Randy Huebbe
The victory is the second for L-P against the No. 1 team in 3A, having taken down Rock Island, 6-2, back on April 22.
Becker, who went the distance in the circle, striking out 10, walking one and surrendering only six hits, got the decision by out-dueling Ottawa ace Abby Bukantis, who was let down by three errors committed by the defense behind her, accounting for three unearned L-P runs.
The Cavaliers went on to take the second game of the split doubleheader, recovering from a post-Ottawa letdown to take down Serena, 10-1, and upping their mark this season to 14-1.
“I’ve been telling them they need to start believing in themselves because they’re better than they think,” said Huebbe. “Maybe they’re starting to get it a little bit. I don’t want them overconfident because that can be a problem.
“But I’ve had to really rein them in, I guess you could say, for the last week because after every game, all they would talk about was Ottawa. I had to tell them, ‘Hey, we have games before then, girls.’ … [Ottawa coach] Adam [Lewis] had his team well-prepared, a good fundamentally sound team and a pretty good pitcher, but I like our pitcher, too. Today, she probably had the best command she’s had this year, walking just one.
“I said at the beginning of the year, if our pitching comes through, we could be really good. And the pitching has, the defense is solid and we got hits when we needed them. This was a good day.”
Ottawa (15-2) jumped ahead 3-0 in the first when Cassie Turk followed singles by Kendall Eslinger and Abi Claus, along with a botched fielder’s choice, with a double to left, scoring a pair. McKenzie Oslanzi drove in the third run on a groundout.
The Cavs closed to within 3-2 against Bukantis on a run-scoring fielder’s choice by Maddy Pangrcic in the first and an RBI single by Taylor Martyn in the second.
But after a double by Oslanzi in the third made it 4-2, L-P broke out and collected four straight hits – singles by Pangrcic and Alexia Michael, an RBI single by Lauren Phillips and a two-run double by Becker – for a 5-4 edge.
Runs driven in by Michael in the fourth and Turk in the visitors’ fifth kept it close, but Becker fanned four of the last six hitters she faced to close it out.
“This wasn’t our best day in the field,” Lewis said. “Abby induced a ton of weak contact today that weren’t errors, jam shots falling all over the infield where we didn’t have anyone. But give L-P credit. Because after that someone delivered with something hit hard. We kicked the ball around a bit, and I’m not sure how many unearned runs we gave up, but it was a few.
“You’ve gotta flush it and move on to the next play. This was a good team. It happens. You don’t always win them all, but good teams will learn from it and move on to the next game.”
Paige Kirkman and Michael each collected two of L-P’s 10 hits.
L-P 10, Serena 1
In Game 2, it was L-P’s turn to jump in front 2-0 in the first on RBIs by Martyn and Michael. Run-scoring hits by Phillips and Ava Lannen in the third made it 4-0.
Serena (8-5) hit the ball hard against L-P hurler Chloe Mitchell at times, but managed four hits and only one run, that in the fourth on Katie Baker’s double and a wild pitch.
By then, L-P refocused and exploded for six runs in the sixth, a two-run double by Kirkman, an RBI double by Kaitlyn Gibson and the big blow – a three-run home run by Pangrcic.
“Argh! We hung in there right there with them for six innings. Not bad,” Serena coach Kelly Baker said. “I was happy with the contact we made. I don’t know how many strikeouts we had, but we didn’t get the timely hit when we had runners in scoring position, that’s what this boiled down to. [Mitchell] did a good job hitting her spots. They’re just a phenomenal team. They have everything a softball team should have.
“We hung in, but there was a lot of domino effect going on for us. Taylor [Staton] threw well, and we made some nice plays behind her, but we’d make an error and the floodgates opened [in the sixth].”