Softball falls into large hole early in loss to Clay

OREGON – Nothing went right for the Ross softball team in the first inning of its TRAC contest at Oregon Clay.

The Eagles loaded the bases and reloaded them three times in the first inning as Clay scored a dozen runs in its first time at the plate. Though the rest of the game played out evenly, more than enough damage had been done as Clay took the 12-2 victory over the Lady Giants.

“At first, I was worried it would get a lot worse,” coach Tony Hill said. “They didn’t score a run the rest of the game, I don’t think they got a girl to third the rest of the game. I think we outplayed them for the last four, granted they had some subs in.”

Though the Eagles jumped out to such a large lead so early, Hill took comfort from his girls remaining upbeat in the dugout and refusing the let the Eagles continue to run up the score.

“I think a lot of it is on the seniors,” Hill said. “They know the writing is on the wall, playing time for all but two of them is coming to an end here in a couple weeks and they don’t want to take anything for granted.”

The Lady Giants totaled four hits in the game, three of which came on consecutive at-bats with two outs in the fourth inning.

Paige Risch started the rally with a hit to left-center field, followed by a base hit by May Lenke. Claire Ochs followed with an RBI base hit to center, scoring Risch and putting Ross on the board. Hailey Taylor then reached base on a Clay error which allowed Lenke to score.

“We have to find a way to put a complete game together. Either our pitching shows up and our defense doesn’t and our bats do, but we don’t bring all three,” Hill said. “Our defense played well, we hit a little bit, but not as well as we expect or are capable of, but our pitching struggled in the first inning.

The loss drops the Lady Giants to 3-12 overall, 0-9 in the TRAC. Ross returns to action Monday when it travels to Toledo Central Catholic.

“The meat of the schedule, outside of the district tournament, is over,” Hill said. “There are two real tough games we have left, in St. Ursula and Findlay, and everything else we should put away handily.”

2023 Boys Soccer Team