Trojans take 2 from Demons

Sometimes it's just not a team's night and Thursday was not the Demons' night.

Fairfield High School came to town and won two Southeast Conference softball games, 4-0 and 5-2.

'It was a frustrating night for us offensively,” Washington coach Ben Obermann said. 'I thought our girls' effort and energy was there, but we just didn't make the in-game mental adjustments at the plate in either game to give us much of a chance. It's hard to win when you commit seven errors in a doubleheader, and only score two runs on eight hits in 14 innings. It's very early in the season, and we will use tonight as a learning experience, and I know our kids will bounce back. I was very pleased with how our pitchers battled and kept us in the games. We have good hitters. Tonight was just not our night.”

The Demons managed just three hits in the 4-0 loss but two were doubles from Alexa Mitchell and Kinsey Duwa.

'We had a lot of chances to get runners in, we just didn't have the big hits that we needed,” Duwa said. 'I had a good hit and I kept my shoulder square and I've been trying to keep it level so I can help the team out.”

Molly Sparks took the loss, yielding seven hits, three earned runs, two walks and a strikeout.

'We lost a couple of good players and I think we've done a really good job of stepping up and filling those positions and so far we've played well as a team, we just need to find our groove,” Duwa said. 'Our goal is to win conference since we were co-champs last year and we would like to win it on our own this year. We'd like to go to state like every other team, but I think we have a pretty good shot this year. The last couple of seasons we've had rough starts and so our record isn't the best and we get paired with good teams like Newton last year. We need to start the season off strong and get a good pairing so we can make it to state.”

The Demons gave up two runs in the first inning of the second game but put the first run of the night on the board in the bottom of the first.

Kellie Dallmeyer went 2 for 3 with a run scored and drew a walk.

'I had two stolen bases which is something I've been working on this year, my speed,” Dallmeyer said. 'I took some other bases when the catcher bobbled it just using my aggressiveness.I've been working on my hitting, every day in the offseason just getting reps even if it's off a tee. I just try to do my part and help my team out.”

The Demons added another run in the fifth when Cameron Malichky scored but gave up three in the fourth. Mitchell and Cara Linnenkamp also had hits with Mitchell getting the only RBI.

'We knew (Allison) Rebling in the circle was going to be very good and she pitched how we expected,” Obermann said. 'Our hitters hit the ball hard and overall had a good approach but she's going to do that to a lot of teams this year. I wasn't expecting to be held down that much in the second game, I give (eighth-grader Coty) Engle a lot of credit. She kept the ball down and mixed fast and change ups, we just didn't make enough adjustments. We were confident that we would make in-game adjustments based on the fact we haven't seen her before but we didn't do enough to come away with the split.”

Mitchell gave up eight hits, three earned runs, three walks and fanned six.

'Molly did well in game one and hit the strike zone and Alexis did the same thing in game two,” Obermann said. 'I thought overall in the second game, we played solid defense and got runners on, we just didn't come up with the big hits tonight. It was only the fourth game of the year and that's not an excuse, but we're still figuring ourselves out. We'll use it as a learning experience.”

Dallmeyer said the losses are too early in the season to worry about.

'This is just games three and four, so we have like 40 more,and we're going to be back better than ever. We just need to get the kinks worked out.”

Obermann knows there is no perfect answer.

'Our area, softball-wise, is very good and we have a tough schedule and that's always going to be a part of it. We just have to start getting back in the competitive mindset and into our summer routine and start clicking when the weather gets better. The sun will come out tomorrow and we'll continue to go out there and play.”

The Demons have two games (Iowa City West and North Scott) today at the Hawkeye Softball Complex and two Saturday (Cedar Rapids Prairie and Mid-Prairie).