OTTAWA – For the first time in the last half dozen years or so, no one was quite certain what to expect out of the 2024 Ottawa softball team. As it turns out, more of the same. Already guaranteed a 20-win season for the seventh straight spring, on Saturday pocketed the fourth regional championship in program history – all captured since 2019 under coach Adam Lewis – with a 5-3 triumph over Morris in the Class 3A Ottawa Regional at King Field.
“I actually just told [outgoing athletic director Mike] Coop[er] after the game, this never gets old,” Lewis said. “And definitely, [this excitement] is warranted. We have a lot of kids playing on varsity for the first time, our pitchers, it’s their first time having to be 1A and 1B.
“There are just a lot of different roles this year that took us some time to get settled, but everybody is stepping into their roles, their positions. We’re excited to move forward.” Ottawa (21-11) advances on to Tuesday’s 4:30 p.
m. semifinal of the 3A Lemont Sectional, facing Oak Forest, a 17-0 winner over Thronton Fractional North in Oak Forest’s own regional title game Saturday. (18-12) – which split the regular-season series with Ottawa and finishes with 18 wins despite having just three seniors on the roster – stranded seven baserunners.
The most costly came when the visitors had runners at second and third with no outs in the third and scored no runs and in the fifth when they loaded the bases with no outs and managed just o.
