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The Herald-News

Piper Lewis’ monster day leads Ottawa softball to big win over Morris

Ottawa’s Piper Lewis connects for her second home run against Morris on Wednesday, April 8, 2026 in Morris.

Back in the 90’s, there was a very famous TV show called “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose.” It followed a Ferris Bueller-type of teen throughout his high school adventures.

After Wednesday, the powers that be may decide they want to reboot that series, only change the name to “Piper Lewis Can’t Make an Out.”

Lewis, a senior shortstop headed to University of Kentucky, went 4 for 4 with two home runs and six RBIs, leading Ottawa to a 14-4, six-inning Interstate Eight Conference win over Morris. Lewis hit a two-run homer in the top of the first inning, singled and scored in the third, singled in two runs later in the eight-run third and capped her day with another two-run homer in the top of the sixth.

“I’ll take that,” Lewis said when told of her stats for the day. “We knew it wouldn’t be easy against Morris. It never is, and they just beat LaSalle-Peru a couple of days ago. We were all fired up and it felt good to get out to a nice lead.

“I didn’t really have a plan in the box as to what pitch I wanted to hit. I just saw good pitches and hit them. It gets contagious with our team. Once we start hitting, everyone hits well.”

The Pirates (6-4, 2-0) broke the game open in the top of the third after Morris tied it in the bottom of the first on a two-run triple by Addy Hackett. The Pirates sent 11 batters to the plate and eight of them scored for a 10-2 lead. Ottawa took advantage of a fielding miscue with the bases loaded to score a couple of runs and got a two-run single by both Lewis and Joslyn Rose. Also adding RBIs in the inning were Rylee Harsted, Kennedy Kane and Teagan Darif.

Ottawa’s Addie Russell delivers a pitch against Morris on Wednesday, April 8, 2026 in Morris.

The top three in the Pirates lineup - Darif, Lewis and Bobbi Snook - were a combined 9 for 12 and scored seven runs, with cleanup hitter Aubrey Sullivan going 2 for 4 and scoring twice.

All of that offense was more than enough for winning pitcher Addie Russell, who allowed four hits and struck out nine in six innings.

“We have a very good lineup,” Ottawa coach Adam Lewis - Piper’s father - said. “Piper can really swing it, and so can the rest of the team, really. Bobbi Snook may have hit the ball the hardest all day. That’s a good team we beat. They just beat L-P the other day.

“Our hitting is contagious when we get going. The top of the order really gets us going, but we have a lot of players from top to bottom that can get it done. We also made all the plays we had to on defense, and Addie threw the ball really well.”

Morris’ Mylie Hughes singles against Ottawa on Wednesday, April 8, 2026 in Morris.

Morris (10-2, 1-1) saw a four-game winning streak snapped. Hackett had the two-run triple in the bottom of the first, but Morris didn’t score again until Mylie Hughes hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to provide the final margin. Hughes finished with two hits, the only Morris player with multiple hits.

“The inning where they scored eight runs, we didn’t help out our pitcher much,” Morris coach Jen Bamonte said. “But, Ottawa hit the ball hard all day. Lewis killed us. When you play in a conference as tough as ours, you are going to have games like this and you take it on the chin.

“We got whipped by a team that has been our Kryptonite over the years, but a game like this can be something we can learn from and improve. I would rather do it early in the season than late. But it goes to show that in our conference, any team can do something like this to any other team.”

Rob Oesterle

Rob Oesterle

Rob has been a sports writer for the Morris Herald-News and Joliet Herald-News for more than 20 years.