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Piper Lewis’ homer, strong defense help Ottawa softball to 4th straight regional title · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Piper Lewis's homer, strong defense help Ottawa softball to fourth
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  straight regional title. Written by Kevin Schlum, this article is
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  being read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
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  With one out in the bottom of the sixth inning
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  of a scoreless game, the ball jumped off the bat
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  of Ottawa senior Piper Lewis. She knew it was gone.
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  Lewis leapt in the air as the ball sailed over
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  the fence, pumped her arms and let out a celebratory
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  screen between first and second base. She was mobbed at
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  home plate after delivering a three run home run to
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  centerfield that lifted the number two seeded Pirates to a
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  three zero victory over number three Geneseo and the Class
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  three A Geneseo Regional championship Saturday in Geneseo. I don't
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  think I've ever jumped higher, Lewis said. It just felt
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  so good to see all my teammates and be able
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  to do that for them. It is the fourth consecutive
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  regional title for Ottawa, which was sent west this season
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  after typically going east, having won one regional at Morris
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  and two at home the previous three years. It feels great.
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  Ottawa coach Adam Lewis said, it's exciting. We've had a
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  regional in Morris and a couple at home. This is
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  a totally different setting. It's a new group of teams
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  this year we played against so it was great to
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  move into a different sub sectional and still be able
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  to accomplish it. Ottawa freshman Teagan de Reef, who made
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  a big defensive play in the top of the sixth setting,
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  said she's happy to be part of the Pirates winning program.
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  It's amazing. Deryf said, it's super nice being a freshman
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  and doing that for the seniors. It feels great to
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  help them get that win. I love that everyone is
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  like a family and we all get along very well.
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  Winning this shows how much work we put into everything.
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  Joining the program makes me feel good because I'm always
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  going to try my hardest, so I'm glad that everyone
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  collectively always tries their hardest. It's amazing. The Pirates twenty
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  one to ten advanced to play Dunlap twenty six to
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  eight at four pm Tuesday in the LaSalle, Peru sectional.
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  We went to watch Dunlap. Adam Lewis said Dunlap has
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  a good pitcher, They play good defense and they put
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  the ball in play. I think they're going to be
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  a gritty team, a lot like Geneseo. I think the
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  pitchers are similar in what types PF pitches they throw,
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  the speed they throw, that sort of thing. From an
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  offensive standpoint, it's going to be kind of the same
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  game plan. Defensively, we'll just try to continue to keep
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  them off balance and keep them off the bases. Ottawa
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  used strong pitching and defense and a timely hit to
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  get past the Maple Leafs. Addie Russell threw a two
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  hit shutout, striking out seven batters and walking five. I
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  thought she was really spinning it, Adam Lewis said, even
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  if she got behind, she didn't lose her spin just
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  to throw a strike. She still continued to spin it,
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  so even though she may have had a two zero count,
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  she was still throwing something with movement, so she didn't
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  get hurt in those counts. Russell escaped jams in the
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  fourth and sixth innings. The Maple Leafs had the bases
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  loaded with one out in the fourth before she got
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  a strikeout and a pop out. In the sixth, a
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  walk and a double with one out gave Genisale runners
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  second and third. Lauren Pacar hid a deep fly ball
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  to center field that seemed to be a textbook sacrifice fly,
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  but Darreff caught it and fired a perfect throw to
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  Ottawa catcher Bobby Snook to get Addison Snell at the
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  plate to end the inning. I feel like it was
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  a great moment, Derref said. I was very glad I
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  got the opportunity to have that throw. I just stayed
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  calm and hoped for the best. I used all my
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  might to try to get it there. I feel like
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  it gave us more energy and more confidence to keep
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  going and try to get our win. In the bottom
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  half of the inning, Kennedy Kane drew a lead off
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  walk and Darif drew a one out walk to set
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  the stage for Lewis. It was the best feeling in
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  my life, Dearreff said about seeing Lewis's home run. It
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  was amazing. I'm so glad she did it. The Pirates
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  finished with four hits and did not have a runner
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  in scoring position before the sixth. We learned from our
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  past at bats, Piper Lewis said about how the Pirates
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  finally broke through. We had great contact early in the game.
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  I feel like everybody just took more from each at
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  bat and each pitch. Ottawa right fielder Riley Harstad made
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  a catch with her back against the fence to start
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  the top of the seventh inning, caught a hard line
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  drive for the second out, and ended the game by
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  catching another flyball. Harstead also made a tough running catch
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  on a hard line drive to the right center field gap.
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  In the second Snook caught a popped up bunt and
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  nearly doubled off the runner at first as part of
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  Ottawa's strong defensive effort. Our defense was on point, which
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  held us in the game and allowed us to see
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  their pitching and adjust later in the game. Piper Lewis said,