Rough 4th innings dooms softball vs. Jennings County

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NORTH VERNON

Coming into their matchup with Jennings County in the first round of the Hoosier Hills Conference Tournament, the Seymour softball team knew it needed to bring their best hitting to the plate for a victory.

Despite keeping it close for 4½ innings, the Owls gave up eight runs in the bottom of the fourth as they went on to fall 11-3 on Monday.

The Panthers got on the board first with an RBI single from senior Baylee Krueger in the bottom of the first.

Following a scoreless second inning, the Panthers added a pair of runs off RBI singles from senior Maddy Hovious and sophomore Tesla Kopitzke.

Down 3-0, the Owls found their bats in the top of the fourth inning with five hits.

After a lead-off single from senior Emily Bobb, Owls sophomore Lo Schmidt blasted an RBI double to center field that hit the fence to narrow the deficit to 3-1.

Owls junior Avery Clark hit an RBI single to bring in pinch-running sophomore McKenna Curry to end the spurt.

Unfortunately for the Owls, the Panthers caught fire in the bottom of the inning, amassing nine hits for eight runs.

“Hitting is contagious. It’s always contagious,” Owls assistant coach Michelle Shattuck said. “We just couldn’t get enough of it. We’re hitting the ball, not striking out, we just had weak hits. I don’t think there was a big difference between this and the last game with them. We just got more hits this time.”

In the top of the fifth inning, the Owls scored their final run on the day off an RBI single from junior Baylee Robinson.

Schmidt finished as the losing pitcher for the Owls with one strikeout, 13 hits, four walks and 11 runs on the afternoon.

“Defensively, it wasn’t really that bad,” Shattuck said. “If we had stayed out of the big inning. We did the little things and are going to keep that moving forward.”

Wednesday, the Owls (9-10) will face the winner of Floyd Central and Columbus East in the consolation bracket of the HHC tourney. The game between East is rescheduled to today following a rain-out Monday.

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