SCOTTSBURG
Brownstown Central’s softball team couldn’t get its offense going until the sixth inning of Thursday’s game against the home team in the Scottsburg Sectional.
By the time the Braves came up with their first hit, they trailed 7-0 and they were beaten 7-2.
Braves coach Monte Ault said defense had been one of the Braves’ strong suits throughout the season, but Thursday night they made costly errors in the fourth and sixth innings that gave the Warriors unearned runs and proved to be too big a hill for the Braves to overcome.
“We gave them way too many chances. I bragged on our defense (Wednesday) night,” he said. “Tonight we made errors we usually don’t make. We bobbled the ball, we dropped the ball when we had a force out at second.
“(Ashley Martin) is a good pitcher. I don’t know how many (12) times we struck out. We started hitting and made them make some plays.”
The Braves made errors in the second and third innings, but Rylin Huddleston was able to pitch her way out of some jams as the Warriors left six runners on base in the first three innings.
With one out in the fourth, the Braves committed their third error of the game, and Scottsburg followed with a walk and two-runs singles by Morgan Pool and Sydney Mayer to take a 4-0 lead.
Brownstown was unable to get a hit off Ashley Martin until the sixth inning. The only base runners the Braves could get was when Zoe Stuckwisch was safe on an error in the third and she walked in the fifth, and Addy Coomer walked in the fourth.
Scottsburg’s leadoff batter walked in the sixth, the next batter was safe on an error and Abbey Martin hit a 3-run homer to make it a 7-0 game.
With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Erin Singleton was safe on an error by the catcher and Kelsey Schneider beat out a bunt for the Braves’ first hit.
Coomer sacrificed the runners up a base and Rylee May singled to centerfield to score Singleton, and when the outfielder let the ball get past her Schneider scored.
An infield out ended that rally.
Zoe Stuckwisch singled with one out in the seventh inning, and advanced on another error, but an infield out ended the game.
Ault said, “If you don’t get hits you’re not going to do very much. It’s been a good year. We finished 19-11.
“The four seniors have meant a lot. They started playing back when they were 7-8. They started in the summer leagues, they worked hard every day.
“Rehgen (Stuckwisch) has improved a lot. She wanted to be a catcher. I had three catchers about even so she volunteered to go to first base, and I moved her over to second base.
“Alli (Reynolds) has been a catcher for the last three or four years. She’s improved a lot. Chelsey Peters got hurt. She puts in the time and everything. She comes to every practice. She just got her boot off. She got to play one game and broke her ankle so that kind of ended her career.
“Abby (Stuckwisch) is a girl you’d like to have on your team. She never complains. She worked herself into the lineup. She got a home run off Bedford and then she started hitting the ball.”
Ault said that while he will miss the seniors he feels like he has a strong nucleus of players returning.