For The Tribune
EDINBURGH
The Edinburgh softball team had a great start in Friday night’s season-opening game against visiting Seymour. The Lancers competed with the Owls in the first four innings and grabbed the early lead.
In just a blink of the eye, though, the Lancers’ lead quickly vanished.
The Owls got hot at the plate and scored five runs in the fifth inning and another five runs in the sixth to give the Lancers a 14-3 loss.
Seymour (2-0) had a bit of trouble early on against Edinburgh starting pitcher Maddi Clark, who surrendered only one run in the first four innings. That lone run came off of a couple Lancer fielding errors.
“I thought we were hitting the ball well early on, but it was mostly right at them,” Seymour coach Brian Personett said. “To Edinburgh’s credit, they made some plays.”
The Lancers (0-1) got the lead in the third inning when Maddi Clark hit a single, and then Sidney Beier smacked a two-run homer over the left field fence to put her team ahead, 2-1.
“The team picked up the slack from their early mistakes,” Edinburgh coach Stephen Clark said.
The turning point of the game came in the fourth inning, when Seymour’s McKenna Curry hit a line drive straight at Maddi Clark and hit her on the wrist of her non-throwing hand. After she was attended to by trainers for a few minutes, the pitcher stayed in the game and got the final out.
In the fifth inning, though, the pain may have started to settle in for Maddi Clark. She was able to retire the first batter but surrendered five hits in the inning, including a three-run homer from Katie Suits that helped the Owls reclaim the lead at 6-2.
“I kept telling the kids to keep doing what they’re doing, and sooner or later good things will happen,” Personett said. “We are young, and it is a young season, but I like what I have seen from them so far.”
The Owls put the game away in the sixth inning. Haley Mobley led off with a single, and then the hits kept coming for the Owls. Baylee Robinson and Lo Schmidt recorded RBI singles, Faith Rebber blasted a double to score two more runs and Curry capped off the inning with another RBI single to make it 11-2.
The Lancers added a run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Bri Howard led off with a triple, then Megan Rooks popped up a sacrifice fly deep enough to score Howard to cut it to 11-3. The Owls responded with three runs in the top of the seventh.
“It became a totally different second half of the game,” Stephen Clark said. “The energy just totally shifted. We just did not stay focused the full seven innings after showing we can play the first four and a half.”