Softball Briefs: Cardinal, Van Buren, Pekin

Comets win 10th game

ELDON ? Allison Ollom slammed a three-run homer and eighth-grader Delaney Ridgeway picked up her first win from the mound as the Comets blasted Harmony 14-2 on Tuesday.

Ridgeway tossed a three-hitter and fanned two Harmony batters in the shortened, three-inning game.

Cardinal?s Lindsay Albert collected a double and Liz Nichols finished with three RBI.

The Comets (10-7, 5-2 SEISC south) travel to Keokuk today.

Warriors lose in extras

KEOSAUQUA ? The Van Buren softball team dropped a heartbreaking 5-2 contest to Central Lee in eight innings Tuesday.

The Warriors scored both their runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 2-0 lead but couldn?t build on it in the final frames. Central Lee tied the game at 2-all in the sixth inning and completed the rally in the eighth with three more runs.

?We need to get a lot better with our situational hitting. We left a lot of runners on base tonight,? said Van Buren head coach Eric Speer. ?But I think the girls understand they played a good game. The ball just didn?t roll our way tonight.?

Van Buren?s Abbey Rider was 2 for 4 from the plate with one run scored, and Lydia Heald scored the other run. Warrior catcher Makenzie Zeitler finished 1 for 4 with a double and two steals.

From the mound, Alicia Fitzsimmons finished with seven strikeouts in eight innings. Fitzsimmons allowed four earned runs on seven Central Lee hits.

Van Buren (6-8, 4-3 SEISC south) has a day off before traveling to Eldon Thursday to face Cardinal.

Pekin falls twice

Pekin?s struggles with errors and walks continued as it dropped a pair of contests to Mediapolis and Highland to kick off the week.

The Panthers (9-8, 5-5 SEISC north) fell 7-4 in eight innings to Mediapolis Monday and then lost to Highland by a final score of 9-4 on Tuesday.

In all, Pekin committed 13 errors and issued 14 free passes in the two games.

?When your errors and walks add up to double digits, you?re not going to win a lot of ball games,? said Pekin coach Bryan Marlay. ?We?re playing reactive softball right now and not proactive softball.?

Pekin?s Cheyann Lankford led the Panthers from the plate on 3-for-7 hitting with two runs scored, and Paige Jensen had two RBI. Leslie Stone hit a solo homer in Tuesday?s loss.

Pitching all 14 innings for Pekin was once again Stone, who allowed six earned runs and struck out nine in the two games.

?We?re better than we?re showing,? Marlay added. ?We need to figure out how to correct some of these mistakes we?re making and play better softball.?

Pekin and Marlay look to shake things up when they head to Central Lee Wednesday.