LOS ANGELES – In something you might see in a Hollywood script, two recent, local high school softball stars met again on the dirt diamond, only this time, it was 1,400 miles away.
Lindsay O’Dell, fouryear Taylor Lady Ducks starting pitcher, and alltime strikeout leader, is now a freshman pitcher at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in Los Angeles, California.
Addison Leschber, a power-hitting machine in her four years at Thrall High School, is now a freshman at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The two are good friends who played high school ball only nine miles apart. Recently, they met again, at the Judi Garman Classic at Cal State Fullerton in Los Angeles.
The game started with both teams scoring a run in the first inning and then holding scoreless until the fourth inning.
In the fourth is when the East WilCo duo would make their first impact on the game, and they did it against each other.
O’Dell came in to pitch in the fourth inning. When Leschber came up to bat, O’Dell softly laughed. The old Duck – Tiger matchup was now a Lion – Golden Gopher one.
Pleasantries and laughter quickly shifted back to focus on the game as the two competitors went head-to-head between the mound and the plate.
O’Dell delivered a pitch that Leschber got a hold of and sent soaring to left field.
The hit would end up being a double for Leschber, and brought in a run for the Golden Gophers, breaking the 1-1 tie. The Golden Gophers used the RBI double from Leschber as a spring board for some momentum, but Loyola Marymount was not going to back down.
Unfortunately, a big seventh inning from the Golden Gophers halted any momentum Loyola Marymount was starting to build to take the close game.
After a close, exciting game, Minnesota pulled out a 7-5 win over LMU.
However, the two friends – each playing at schools over 1,000 miles from home and 2,000 miles apart – completed the east Williamson County reunion with a post-game hug.
