COLUMBUS

It was a disappointing night for the Seymour softball team Thursday at Columbus East.

It seemed that every time Seymour would punch the Olympians with some offense, East would counterpunch just a little bit harder, handing Seymour a 6-5 Hoosier Hills Conference defeat.

It was a night where the ball was flying and the Olympian defense was suspect, yet the Owls could not take full advantage.

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“I’m disappointed with our play,” Owls coach Jerry Burton said. “I am actually lost for words. Sometimes, it looks like we don’t have a clue as to what we are doing.”

Burton’s frustration was justified. The Olympians committed five errors on the night, giving the Owls several extra outs in which they failed to capitalize on.

Seymour jumped on East starter Jordan Johnston right out of the gate. Leadoff hitter Tori Snook began the game with a double to the left-center field gap. The Owls’ next hitter, Stephanni Kleber, reached first on an error by Olympian shortstop Kaitlin Brummett. This put Seymour runners on first and third with no outs.

Following a Rachel Kaufman popout, Grace Meyer grounded to shortstop, scoring Snook. A bobble by Brummett allowed Kleber to reach second on the play, putting runners and first and second with only one out.

Carlee Robinson then came up for the Owls and lined a bullet to East second baseman Kamryn Cantu, who was able to pick Meyer off of first for an inning-ending double play.

The Olympians threw their first counterpunch in the bottom of the first, as the first three batters reached safely via singles. The third of those singles, hit by Brooke Valles, drove in Claudia Sims with East’s first run to tie the score at 1.

Following a sacrifice bunt by Johnston to move the runners to second and third with one out, a Jenna Robbins groundout produced the second run of the inning, as Madyson Foster scored from third on the throw to first, giving the Olympians a 2-1 lead after one.

The teams traded zeroes for the next two and a half innings until the Olympians’ Jenna Robbins hit a laser over the left-field fence to tack on a run and give East a 3-1 lead after four innings.

Seymour was able to answer right back in the top of the fifth. With one out, Snook hit her second double of the game.

She was thrown out trying to advance to third on a bizarre play. Kleber grounded hard to third, and the ball bounced off of Olympian third baseman Brooke Valles. The ball, however, bounced right to the shortstop Brummett, who then threw back to Valles, who was able to recover enough to tag Snook out at third.

The next batter, Kaufman, homered over the center field fence, making Snook’s out sting even more. Instead of giving Seymour the lead, the two-run shot only tied the game at 3.

But once again, East had an immediate answer in the bottom of the inning. Owls’ starter Mikayla Moore hit Keagan Nickerson to begin the frame. The next Olympian batter, Brummett, then lined a pitch over the left-center field fence for a two-run home run, giving East its two-run lead back at 5-3.

Following a pitching change by Seymour, East was able to scratch out its final and what ended up being the winning run on two infield hits and a walk.

After a scoreless sixth inning, the Owls threatened to come back in the final inning with a lot of help from the Olympians.

East coach Rusty Brummett brought in Valles to finish the game, and it nearly backfired. Valles walked the first batter she faced. With one out, Meyer hit a hard ball to center field that could not be handled by Foster, putting runners at second and third.

Following a Robinson popout, Kate Snook drew a walk, loading the bases. Haley Mobley then hit a pop to short, which presumably could have ended the game, but the ball was dropped, allowing two runners to score and making it 6-5.

The comeback fell short, however, as Grace Rennekamp grounded out to shortstop to end the game.

“We need to realize that you just don’t show up and automatically win a game,” Burton said. “East outplayed us tonight, but we have to do something to win a game.”