First-inning mistakes proved costly for Linn last week as the Lady Cats dropped games to Capital City and Owensville, falling to 4-3 on the season.
Linn stayed within a run of Capital City …
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First-inning mistakes proved costly for Linn last week as the Lady Cats dropped games to Capital City and Owensville, falling to 4-3 on the season.
Linn stayed within a run of Capital City throughout Wednesday’s game before the Cavaliers escaped with a 3-2 victory.
Capital City scored twice in the top of the first inning, taking advantage of defensive miscues by the Lady Cats.
“First-inning nerves got to us,” said Coach Jason Dudenhoeffer. “We made a few defensive mistakes that gave them two runs in the first inning, and we played catch-up the rest of the night.”
Linn answered with a run in the bottom of the first, then tied the game at 2-2 in the fifth. Heslie Higginbotham’s fielder’s choice helped bring home the tying run.
Capital City regained the lead in the sixth when Jayme Spratt’s sacrifice bunt scored the deciding run.
The Lady Cats outhit Capital City 7-6 but couldn’t push across another run. Elli Dudenhoeffer led Linn with three hits.
“We couldn’t come up with the big hit to take the lead,” Dudenhoeffer said. “We had plenty of opportunities to win. We were in the game the whole time despite a few mental and physical mistakes.”
Linn committed three errors, while Capital City had two.
The Lady Cats again tried to overcome an early deficit Thursday at Owensville, but eventually fell 11-7.
Owensville scored twice in the bottom of the first, but Linn responded with three runs in the second and two in the third to take a 5-2 lead.
The Dutchgirls answered with four runs in the bottom of the third before Linn regained the advantage with two runs in the fourth, taking a 7-6 lead.
Owensville broke the game open with four runs in the fifth and added another in the sixth.
“First-inning mistakes got us again,” Dudenhoeffer said. “We know what we’ve got to work on before the Fatima game. Definitely not the best game we’ve played this year.”
Linn finished with seven hits but committed six errors. Owensville recorded 10 hits and two errors.
“Despite the mistakes and lack of hitting, we were still in the ballgame to the end,” Dudenhoeffer said.
