Lady Cougars Fall To Floyd
By David Gravely
Two days after an impressive opening day win, the Pulaski County Lady Cougar Softball team got it's first taste of defeat as they fell on the road to Floyd by a final score of 4-2.
The first inning found the Lady Cougars ready to pick up where they left off Wednesday with the bats. Jordan Chrisley led off with a single, and then Carli Brewer moved her to second on a sacrifice bunt. Brooke Hundley hit another sacrifice to move Chrisley to third base, and then Sarah Wright hit a single, scoring Chrisley and putting the Lady Cougars up 1-0.
Floyd answered immediately, but it was errors and mistakes by Pulaski that gave them that chance instead of solid hitting. The Lady Buffalo's scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning off of a walk and two errors to take a 2-1 lead.
The second innings went scoreless for both teams, as both had trouble throughout the game getting the bat on the ball. Pulaski added a run in the top of the third to tie things up, but Floyd came back again when they were able to get a hit to put a runner on base in the third. Two errors later the Lady Buffs retook the lead, 3-1.
The final score of the game came in the sixth inning when Aimee Royal of Floyd hit a booming triple, and then the Lady Buffs were able to execute a squeeze play to get the earned run and the final 4-2 margin of victory.
Pulaski attempted to comeback in the seventh inning, and with one out on the board Kelli Duncan hit a double, followed by a Lauren Foster double to move Duncan to third. Floyd intentionally walked heavy hitter Jordan Chrisley, hoping to have better luck with Brewer. Brewer connected with the ball, but it went to third for a ground out, holding the runners in place. Brooke Hundley took the Floyd pitcher to a full count, but a strike on a checked swing ended the rally for the Lady Cougars.
"It was a great game even though we lost" said Lady Cougar Head Coach Gina Miano. "We had too many errors. They had one earned run, we had two, so our errors beat us defensively. Our rally in the seventh showed that our girls were ready to play. We were in a position to win but couldn't quite get it. It was a great learning experience. The kids started slow but then finished and never gave up. If you take away one of those errors, the game is ours. As much as we hated to lose it, I'm proud of the effort and the growth we will gain from this. We showed good composure and are ready to get back at it."
Jordan Chrisley led the Lady Cougars at the plate with a 2 for 3 effort, scoring two runs and also earning a walk. Sara Wright went 2 for 2 with an RBI and a stolen base, while Kelli Duncan went 1 for 2. Lauren Foster went 1 for 3 with her seventh inning double, and freshman Chelsea Golden went 1 for 3. Brooke Hundley earned an RBI on one of her two sacrifice bunts, and Lauren Shumate earned a stolen base. On the mound, Kaitlin Smith went all seven innings, facing 34 batters. In that time she allowed six hits, four runs, one earned run, one walk, and struck out five batters.
The Lady Cougars get back into action on Wednesday when they travel to Galax to take on the Lady Maroon Tide. Game start time is set for 5 pm.
No comments:
Post a Comment