Demons fall to Mt. Pleasant again

Playing at the site of Monday's Class 4A regional tournament, the Washington girls? golf team lost to Southeast Conference rival Mt. Pleasant in an 18-hole dual meet at Edmundson Golf Course in Oskaloosa on Thursday afternoon.

The Demons shot a 406, and their 200 on the front nine matched their low nine-hole score of the season. But once again the Panthers were better, shooting a 373.

?Quite frankly, Mt. Pleasant is hitting on all cylinders right now,? Washington head coach Leonard Kull said. ?They?re playing well. They have five young ladies who are really working on their game, and they shot a tremendous score. Our goal is to keep working on our game and try to emulate that on Monday.?

A couple of the Demons showed improvement on Thursday. Sophomore Sarah Waite carded her career-low 18-hole score of 90 to tie Mt. Pleasant?s Elle Schleisman for second place individually and finish two shots behind Mt. Pleasant?s Courtney Mabeus. Waite?s 44 on the front nine was the lowest nine-hole score of her career.

?Sarah?s come a long way,? Kull said. ?She?s got the ability to be somewhere in the mid-40s, and I think she?s starting to believe in herself a little bit and realize she has the potential to be in that area. A 45 for girls is a benchmark that you try to get to, and when you get there, you?re in the upper 10 percent who are playing the sport.?

Junior Maddie Hora carded a career-best 110, firing a 55 for each nine holes.

?Maddie broke 60 for the first time, and she did it in consecutive rounds,? Kull said. ?She was very pleased with herself, and I don?t blame her. She?s been coming along, and I had a feeling she was due for a breakout round.?

Senior Megan Buitendorp shot a 99, and freshman Deanna Peiffer had a 107. Senior Megan Reuscher continued to struggle, finishing with a 118.

Washington?s score of 406 was right around what the team has done all year.

?Our scores have been all within 10 strokes, plus or minus five, all year,? he said. ?We?ve gotten there in a variety of ways. If we ever just get all four of them hitting on all cylinders, we could surprise ourselves, I think.?

Kull would like to see that happen at Monday's regional tournament in Oskalooosa.

?We?ll see what we can do,? he said. ?It?s either put up or shut up then. Hopefully when we?re finished we can at least say we gave it our best shot.?