Demons lose slugfest, rebound with victory

Comparing a high school softball game to a boxing match must mean there were a lot of hits.

Washington had 21 and the visitors from Mt. Pleasant had 13 in a 13-10 Panthers victory in the first game of a Southeast Conference doubleheader Thursday. The Demons committed nine errors in the game.

Washington rebounded with a 9-5 triumph in the nightcap, limiting their errors to three.

'It was a slugfest,” Mt. Pleasant coach Troy Mears said of the opener. 'We scored three in the first inning, they came back with four and the game was on. It was just back-and-forth. It was like a boxing match.”

The Demons took a 7-3 lead after three innings. The Panthers made it 7-6 in the top of the fourth. WHS added a run in the bottom of the fourth. MP scored one in the fifth, then took a 10-8 lead in the top of the sixth. Washington scored two in the bottom of the sixth to tie it, but had four errors in the top of the seventh as the Panthers took a 13-10 lead. The Demons loaded the bases with three straight singles from Haylee Wilson, Kaitlyn Mitchell and Molly Sparks with one out, but two groundouts ended the game.

'Luckily, we scored enough in the end and then we held them,” Mears said.

'We beat ourselves in the first game, but you have to give credit to Mt. Pleasant,” Washington coach Ben Obermann said. 'They hit the ball hard and put it in play. We had (too many) errors. When you're playing a good hitting team like them, you can't give them extra outs. Recording five outs in an inning instead of three is a killer. It was unfortunate that we let that one slip away.”

Sydni Coleman, who had two hits, got the win for MP. Samantha Broeker and Anni Liechty had two hits apiece.

'Sam stood out for us,” Mears said. She was really hitting the ball well all night. Anni is really swinging the bat well. A couple of girls in the bottom of the order like Grace Kelly are swinging the bat well.”

Haylee Wilson went to the plate nine times on the night for the Demons and reached base eight times with five hits.

'A week ago I was in my head, but tonight, I just focused on getting base hits and helping my team out,” Wilson said. 'I got out of my head. I have moved to the back of the box and have been waiting to load until the pitcher is almost pitching it and that has been helping me a lot.”

Kaitlyn Mitchell was 4 for 5 while Demon teammate Molly Sparks was 5 for 5 and RyLee Fishback went 3 for 5.

Sparks and Alexa Mitchell both pitched with Mitchell getting the loss even though she did not allow an earned run.

Mt. Pleasant is 6-3 and 3-1 in the SEC with a doubleheader today at Keokuk.

Lyndi Vantiger had a double in the second game for MP.

'Their defense shaped up a lot better in the second game,” Mears said of the Demons. 'They let us in the game in the first one by plays they didn't make, but they didn't do that in the second. I think that was the difference.”

'Some games we have on days and some games we are off,” Wilson said. 'It just comes and goes. Our defense was off tonight. We will be better.”

Cara Linnenkamp pitched the win for the Demons, allowing five hits, but no walks, no earned runs and two strikeouts. She helped her cause with four RBI on 2 of 3 hitting, Kellie Dallmeyer, Alexa Mitchell and Sparks also had two hits.

While Obermann vowed the Demons would continue to work on their defensive liabilities, he was proud of the hitting and his team's mental fortitude.

'Offensively, all night, we were outstanding. That is always going to keep us in games because we can score runs.”

The Demons scored one run in the first inning of the nightcap and two more in the second. After giving up five runs in the top of the fifth inning, Washington scored five runs in the bottom of the inning.

'That just shows our mentality right there,” Obermann said. 'That was crunch time right there. We are on the verge of dropping a second doubleheader in the conference (after losing two to Fairfield last Thursday). Down 5-3, the girls went up to the plate with good approaches. Our game plan against Liechty was to make her throw a lot of pitches. She can be erratic at times. When she comes with a strike we have to be ready to hit it. Our girls did a nice job responding to our scouting reports about their pitching. I thought we showed great mentality to let the bad stuff go and move on.”

The Demons move on to play at Creston today with a game against Class 4A No. 9 Burlington (and next season's fellow SEC member) and Creston, then two games Saturday, also at Creston, against Central Decatur and Clarke.