La Salle-Peru tops Ottawa 8-7 in 14-inning thriller

LA SALLE — As the sun began to set after over three hours and seven extra innings of thrilling softball at the L-P Sports Complex on Monday, La Salle-Peru’s Kelsey Frederick’s two-run single to right-center in the bottom of the 14th inning gave the Cavaliers an unbelievable 8-7 Interstate 8 Conference victory over rival Ottawa.

“This was the type of game you can have when you have a rivalry like these two schools do,“ L-P coach Randy Huebbe said. ”We’ve had some games this season that went extras, and also had six or seven games where we had to come from behind to win.”

La Salle-Peru improved to 19-3 overall and 3-0 in league play. Ottawa dropped to 11-3 and 2-1.

“I don’t where you start to explain what happened in this game,” Ottawa coach Adam Lewis said. “I won’t claim to be a historian of past Ottawa/L-P softball matchups, but this has to be an all-timer.”

Frederick’s game-winning hit on the first pitch she saw from Ottawa’s Addie Russell came after Lydia Steinbach led off the inning with a single and advanced to third on a fly ball by Callie Mertes that was dropped for a two-base error.

“To be honest, I don’t know,” said Frederick on what type of pitch she hit. “Coach Huebbe had just told me before I stepped in the box, ‘Hey, how about hitting the ball to right field?’ Really, I just knew (Russell) was going to try and get ahead right away, so I was just ready to swing if the pitch was in the zone.

“We’ve had a couple of extra-inning games already this season, but not anywhere near the tension or intensity of this. This is our rivalry game, it’s Ottawa. We want to win games with them more than anything.

“The pitching on both sides was unbelievable. It was frustrating, because we just couldn’t seem to string any hits together.”

La Salle-Peru grabbed the lead in the third on a solo homer run to left by leadoff batter Karmen Piano.

Ottawa responded quickly in the fourth. Rylee Harsted lined an opposite-field double to left-center off L-P starter Taylor Vescogni and scored on a Bobbi Snook blast over the left-field wall.

The Cavaliers tied the game in the bottom of the seventh on a leadoff double to left by Vescogni, who then scored on a two-out, two-base throwing error.

Ottawa took the lead in the 13th, taking advantage of two L-P errors and using a two-run base hit by Aubrey Sullivan to hold a 6-2 lead.

However, the hosts tied the contest in their half of the frame on RBIs from Anna Riva, Mackenzie Chamberlain and Allie Thome as well as a wild pitch.

Ottawa plated one in the 14th. Addie Miller singled, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Leigh and scored after a pair of passed balls.

Claire Boudreau (6 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K) earned the win in relief of Vescogni (8 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 13 K).

Russell (13⅓ IP, 11 H, 8 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 17 K) suffered the tough-luck loss in the circle for Ottawa.

“That is one of the toughest pitching performances I’ve ever seen,“ Lewis said of his junior pitcher. ”It was truly unreal. Even in the final two innings, they scored their runs because Addie was still getting mishit, cueball shots that are spinning like crazy and finding open space.

“It’s probably not something I would want to do again, as in leaving a pitcher in so long, but pitch counts in softball are vastly different than baseball.”

Harsted finished with three hits and Sullivan two for the visitors. Mertes had three hits, with Piano and Frederick adding two each for L-P.

Ottawa next hosts Sycamore on Wednesday, while L-P travels to play the Spartans on Friday.

“These girls don’t quit, ever, and they showed that multiple times today,“ Huebbe said. ”What a great game and great way to win.”