Errors, cold hitting cost Maidens in rivalry game
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POLSON — It was the same old song and dance for the Maidens in Polson Tuesday, April 20.
Silent bats and defensive miscues, something that have plagued the young Ronan squad during a four-game skid, reared their ugly heads again in a 9-1 loss to the Lady Pirates.
The Maidens were limited to only three hits and struck out five times and were also handcuffed with three errors and five passed balls in their fifth straight loss.
After giving up an unearned run in the top of the first, Lady Pirate freshman phenom Shay Duford shut down the Maidens in order four straight innings and only let one base runner reach scoring position the rest of the way.
“She (Duford) does a good job with her location, but our girls weren’t aggressive enough and just weren’t swinging the bats real well,” Ronan coach Tom Peterson said. “They were getting behind in the count and putting more pressure on themselves.”
In the top of the first with two outs, Maiden left fielder Payge Delaurenti reach base on a throwing error by shortstop Staci Benson and came around to score on a single by first baseman Brittani Clairmont for the Maidens’ lone run of the game. Clairmont finished 1-for-3 with the one RBI.
In the bottom of the first, the Maidens gave back their lead with the Lady Pirates scoring four runs with the help of two Maiden errors and three passed balls.
Benson led off the inning with a single, but reached third after the ball went through the Maidens' center fielder legs. “That’s just the way the whole game went,” Peterson said.
The Maidens also committed an error in the Lady Pirates’ two-run second inning.
“If we’re not making mistakes we’ll do OK, but as soon as we start helping teams out we struggle,” Peterson said. “Especially teams like Polson because every girl up there’s going to put the ball in play. They get up there and they swing, they’re well coached, they’re fast and they put pressure on you and you just can’t make mistakes against teams like that.”
After having three base runners in the first, the Maidens didn’t reach base again until the sixth, with Lindsay Clairmont and Chelsey Bourdon drawing walks. Maiden second baseman Abby Luke reached in the seventh with a single.
Bethany Colman struck out seven, issued three walks and allowed 11 hits in the loss.
With the loss the Maidens drop to 2-5 and 0-2 in the Northwestern A conference.
Peterson said his team has the talent and still can finish at the top of the conference, but they can’t waste anymore time.
“We’ve got to get better right away. We can’t wait around anymore,” Peterson said.
After hosting Columbia Falls in a conference game Tuesday, the Maidens travel to Anaconda Thursday for a nonconference game and then have a doubleheader with Hamilton and Corvallis Saturday.
Summary
Polson 9, Ronan 1
Ronan 100 000 0–1 2 3
Polson 421 002 X–9 11 2
Bethany Colman and Katie Andrews. Shay Duford and Kayla Duford.
W - S. Duford. L - Colman (2-5)
RONAN - Lindsay Clairmont 0-3, Katie Andrews 0-3, Payge Delaurenti 1-3, Chelsey Bourdon 0-3, Brittani Clairmont 1-3, Kloie
Clairmont 0-3, Abby Luke 1-3, Mackenzie Middleton 0-3.
POLSON - Staci Benson 2-4, Kodi Woods 2-4, K. Duford 2-4, Riley Kenny 3-4, Sallie Sams 0-4, Makaliah Wilson 0-3, Ashley Johnson 2-3, Kiley Knutson 0-3, S. Duford 0-1.
