‘On a mission’: Oswego, ready for return to IHSA state tournament, sets sights on title

Aubriella Garza as a freshman would have never thought it possible.

Oswego softball at state?

A program that went nearly four decades without a regional title, and 22 years without a winning season from 1995-2016?

My, how things have changed since Garza, a four-year starter and NIU recruit, first put on an Oswego softball uniform.

“If you asked me freshman year if we would go to state I probably would have laughed,” Garza said. “Going to state was something that none of us really expected. It was insane. To go back for a second time is out of this world.”

The expectations around the program have certainly changed.

Oswego, third in Class 4A last year in the program’s first state tournament appearance, is headed back to Peoria this weekend with a singular goal in mind.

“We’re going to win,” Oswego junior pitcher Jaelynn Anthony said. “Third place is not for us. First place.”

The Panthers have good reason to carry that confidence into Friday’s 5:30 p.m. state semifinal against Oak Park-River Forest.

Six starters are back from last year’s group that lost to eventual champion St. Charles North 2-1 in the 2024 semifinals.

Oswego (36-2), ranked third in the final Illinois Coaches Association poll, won its first 21 games this season, with a lineup that has averaged 10 runs per game and slugged 50 homers.

And the Panthers just beat Marist 5-1 on Monday, Anthony coming a strike away from a no-hitter, snapping the second-ranked RedHawks’ streak of five straight state semifinal appearances.

“We’re excited, that is the perfect way to sum it up, looking forward for the opportunity to compete for a state championship,” Oswego co-coach Annie Scaramuzzi said. “Last year we didn’t know what to expect. It was a surprise and we were happy to be here. We are happy to be here again, but we are also on a mission for a first-place trophy. We know what it takes, we know what it is like and we are ready to roll.”

Anthony, for one, is on a roll.

The Purdue recruit, 20-1 with a 1.60 ERA and 179 strikeouts over 127 innings, tossed shutouts in both regional games, and has allowed just three earned runs over five playoff games. And she’s coming off perhaps her best outing of the season in shutting down Marist.

“Same old Jaelynn,” Oswego senior catcher and Iowa recruit Kiyah Chavez said. “We are so close and we don’t want it to be over. Jae is doing everything in her power to keep our season rolling and keep winning.”

Chavez, batting .542 with 19 doubles, 11 homers and 60 RBIs, is in the center of Oswego’s dangerous top of the lineup. Garza is batting .431 with 13 homers, 13 doubles and 53 RBIs, and Anthony .477 with 14 doubles, 13 homers and 54 RBIs.

Speedy freshman second baseman Adalynn Fugitt, batting .471 with 51 runs scored, precedes those three.

But Oswego’s lineup depth has showed in key moments during the playoff run.

Senior Sabrina Zamora and junior Kennedy Gengler, who bat sixth and seventh, respectively, had the key hits in Oswego’s come-from-behind sectional wins over Yorkville and Wheaton North.

“We’ve said it since the beginning, it would take 1-17, both our starters and other players,” Scaramuzzi said. “We feel like we’re playing our best softball right now. We played one of the best teams in the state in the supersectional and we played one of our best games of the year.”

Oswego’s semifinal opponent, Oak Park-River Forest (29-8) is making the program’s 15th state tournament appearance, and took third place in its last, in 2023. The Huskies won state titles in 2005, 2016 and 2017.

OPRF, down to its last strike in Monday’s supersectional against Loyola, scored the tying run in the seventh to force extra innings, where the Huskies scored seven runs in the eighth for a 10-3 win.

St. Joseph’s recruit Elyssa Hasapis is batting .595 with 18 doubles and 63 runs scored. Dayton commit Maura Carmody is batting .518 with 11 homers and 59 RBIs.

“I personally don’t know anybody on the team, but my college teammate texted me that her cousin is on the team. That’s all I know,” Garza said. “They’re a good group of girls. I’m intrigued to see what we’re up against.”

Fourth-ranked Lockport (31-9), which upset No. 1-ranked Lincoln-Way Central in a sectional final, will play seventh-ranked Barrington (34-3-1) in the first semifinal. Lockport’s Kelcie McGraw has not allowed a run in five playoff games.

“We are ready to play and we are ready to win,” Chavez said. “At the end of the day I think we can hang with anybody. I like to think we’re the best team in the state. I guess this weekend will determine that.”