Seymour’s Alexia Rieckers pitches against Scottsburg on Thursday night. Rieckers started on the mound for the Owls.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Seymour’s Kynadee Warner gets one of her three hits on the day against Scottsburg on Thursday night.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Seymour’s Phoebe Underwood pitches against Scottsburg on Thursday night.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Seymour’s Kendrick Sterling hits a homerun against Scottsburg on Thursday night.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Seymour’s Kendrick Sterling is greeted at home plate by her teammates after hitting a homerun on Thursday night against Scottsburg.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Seymour’s Avery Stewart catches the out at first base on Thursday night against Scottsburg.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Seymour’s Sydney Stewart signals to the dugout on Thursday night against Scottsburg.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Seymour’s Kaylee Waskom catches an out on Thursday night against Scottsburg.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
On a cold night at Seymour High School for an early-year softball matchup between Seymour and Scottsburg, the Owls bats seemed to be just as cold.
Seymour couldn’t muster up much offense on the night as Scottsburg left with an 8-1 victory.
“We’re not doing a very good offensively through our first two games,” head coach Jerry Burton said. “You gotta give their pitcher credit also, but we’re struggling. That’s pretty obvious.”
The Warriors got off to a good start in the first inning as Lauren Mayer had a sacrifice fly that drove in the first run, and then her sister Sydney Mayer had an RBI single to make it 2-0.
Scottsburg added two more runs in the third inning after Abbey Martin crushed a two-run homerun to make it 4-0.
“She does a nice job,” Burton said of Martin, who went 3-4 on the day with 3 RBI.
In between Scottsburg’s first four runs, the Owls had two different scenarios where they got runners to third base but couldn’t capitalize.
Freshman Phoebe Underwood came in to replace Alexia Rieckers on the mound in the fourth inning. Underwood had a tough first inning as Scottsburg added four more runs after the defense had a couple errors, but after that, she settled in and held the Warriors scoreless for the final three innings.
“I think it was good that she got to come in and get some experience,” Burton said. “We’re gonna use a lot of pitchers, but our defense is letting us down right now.”
Seymour’s lone run came in the bottom of the fourth inning when Kendrick Sterling led off with a homer over the center field wall.
Burton was hoping Sterling’s solo blast would get the Owls going a bit, but they couldn’t get much after that. Lauren Mayer pitched all seven innings for Scottsburg and struck out six Owls.
“She got us going there, and I was hoping it would turn into everyone would start hitting,” he said. “Kendrick is one of those players that’s never going to give up. She’s always going to give you 100 percent. She did her best to try to get us going, but we haven’t woke up yet. We’re just not playing very good softball.”
Alexa Danatelle came in to pinch hit and got a hit, and Kynadee Warner got on base in all four of her at-bats.
Warner got to second base off a fielding error, and then singled three-straight times by using her speed.
“It’s good, but when you only got one or two kids hitting, it’s hard to score,” Burton said.
Sterling’s homerun on Thursday marked Seymour’s first run of the season through two games. The Owls suffered a 12-0 loss on Tuesday to Shelbyville to open the year.
The Owls will continue their homestand tonight as they take on Brown County at 5:30 p.m., and Burton hopes the team can snap out of its slump to begin the year and get into the winning column.
“We need to get a W (tonight),” Burton said. “We need to get back on track of playing good softball.”