Young softball squad suffers sweep by Purple Dragons

Fort Scott second baseman Kenzie Heatherly makes a running grab of a line drive by a Pittsburg batter during the first game of a Southeast Kansas League doubleheader at Don Hewett Field Thursday afternoon. (Kenny Felt/Captured Images)

A few lessons were learned and a few strides were made at Don Hewett Field Thursday evening even though Fort Scott High's softball team lost both games of a Southeast Kansas League doubleheader to rival Pittsburg 9-4 and 7-5.

"We're young. We made some errors. We're going to continue making those but we have made big strides from last week already," Fort Scott head coach Alvin Metcalf said of his team that has two sophomore and four freshman starters. "We just told the girls that there were a lot of negatives that we could constantly hammer but there were positives. There were some great catches. We made better throws. We communicated, we hustled, we hit the ball in both games."

Pittsburg (3-1 SEK, 4-2 overall) scored 2 runs in the top of the first inning of the opener but the Tigers (0-2, 0-4) answered back with 3 in the bottom half.

Fort Scott center fielder Hannah Tourtillott makes a grab in the first game of the doubleheader. Tourtillott made several outtstanding defensive plays during the doubleheader. (Kenny Felt/Captured Images)

Hannah Tourtillott started the rally when she beat the third baseman's throw to first with one out. Kenzie Heatherly followed with a single up the middle. Devan Lloyd reached on an error to load the bases for Shelby Maycumber's two-out single that pushed Tourtillott and Heatherly across. Lloyd reached third on another error and scored from there on Callie Beene's single.

The only person in the previous paragraph that is not a sophomore (Heatherly) or freshman is Lloyd.

"The freshmen really picked it up for us," Metcalf said.

The Purple Dragons scored 1 run in the second and 2 in the third to take a 5-3 lead. The Tigers closed within 1 in the fourth when Lloyd's two-out single to center scored Jade Weeter.

The Dragons posted 3 unearned runs in the sixth on 2 hits and 2 errors and added their final run in the seventh.

Maycumber and Tourtillott were each 2 for 3 for the Tigers.

Jessica Wade was 3 for 4 for Pittsburg with 2 runs batted in. Haley Drenick went 2 for 3 and Jordan Patterson and Andie Casper were each 2 for 4.

Kaitlin King was the winning pitcher for Pittsburg, allowing 3 earned runs on 7 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5. Jenna Harper allowed 5 earned runs on 14 hits but didn't walk anyone and struck out 3 for the Tigers.

There were a total of 7 errors in the game, 4 of which were committed by Pittsburg.

The Dragons scored 2 unearned runs in the first inning of the second game. The Tigers got 1 back in the bottom of the inning. Weeter led off the inning with a single to left, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Lloyd's 2-out single.

Fort Scott posted 3 in the second. Maycumber reached base when the catcher dropped strike three then threw wildly to first base. She stole second, then Beene reached on an error when she bunted. Beene stole second and moved up on a wild pitch that allowed Maycumber to tie the game at 2-2.

The rally continued with Michelle Buntain's ground out scoring Beene. Morgan Tourtillott came up and bunted for a hit, moved to second on an error, to third on a wild pitch and scored on another wild pitch.

From the second through fourth innings, Harper put out 9 of the 11 batters she faced. But the Purple Dragons got 4 hits in the fifth as they tied the score at 4-4.

The Tigers took the lead again in the fifth when Weeter drove in Buntain with a single.

Pittsburg used 3 hits and took advantage of 3 Fort Scott errors to score 3 times in the top of the seventh to take the lead at 7-5. Melia Cook, who struggled with the Tiger order earlier in the game, put them down in order in the bottom of the inning.

"We gave that away," Metcalf said noting that none of the runners who scored should have been on base. "We could have been out of that inning 1-2-3. But we're young and with that comes mistakes. But in the long run, when you have young ladies playing a lot as freshmen they'll have a lot of experience to draw on when they're seniors."

Weeter was 2 for 3 for the Tigers in the second game. Wade, King, Megan Burdick and Allison Percy each had 2 hits for the Dragons.

Harper allowed 4 earned runs on 11 hits, 2 walks and 5 strikeouts (That's 2 walks in 14 innings pitched on the night).

"She had a blister on her finger and her rise ball wouldn't work," Metcalf said. "So we didn't throw it."

Cook allowed 2 earned runs on 5 hits and 4 walks while striking out 4. She gave up just 1 hit in her final 4 innings of pitching.

Fort Scott goes on the road Tuesday to take on Parsons in a Southeast Kansas League doubleheader.

Game One

WP -- King. LP -- Harper (0-3).

HR -- None.

Game Two

WP -- Cook. LP -- Harper (0-4).

HR -- None.