Unearned runs doom Demons

Errors came back to haunt the Washington softball team on Thursday night.

The Demons gave up 12 unearned runs to the No. 14 ranked Fairfield Trojans in a regional opener, leading to a season-ending 15-2 loss.

The Demons were strong early in the game, battling at the plate for long at-bats, drawing two walks and two singles in the first inning.

After that frame, the demons only had two baserunners, coming on a hit by pitch and a single.

?We were going up with some confidence,? Washington head coach Angie Shrader said. ?It then became a situation where a lack of defense and our pitchers maybe not hitting their spots right away put us in a pressure situation, so we started to press at the plate and not swing at good pitches, giving them easy outs. When you have 15 runs on the board and 3 are earned, it doesn?t reflect how well we can play.?

Washington won the coin flip and played the role of the home team in Fairfield, which allowed the Trojans to jump on the board first.

Two walks led to a two-out single from the Trojans, putting them up 2-0 after one half inning.

The Demons were quick to respond, however, using a one-out single from freshman Megan Mitchell, followed by back-to-back walks for freshman Morgan Brinning and senior Kolbi Breard.

Freshman Brooke Stout came up big in the next at-bat, driving a single to left field, scoring Mitchell and Brinning to tie the game up.

After that point, it was all Fairfield, as they plated two runs in the third inning, followed up by a nine-run fourth inning to break the game open and cruise to the victory, ending the Demons? season at 7-27.

Freshmen Kayla Andrew and Haylee Wilson were the other two baserunners the Demons had in the game.

?(The girls) fought through everything (this season),? Shrader said. ?It was a tough season, but they kept battling and showing up every day. We have 15 kids who played a lot of varsity, and 13 of them come back. It?s just a matter of how hard they want to work in the offseason. They can take some life lessons from this, and they should be tougher from this.?

The two who won?t be returning to the Demons next season are Breard and Anna Wheeler, who wrapped up their careers with the Washington softball team.

The pair have seen conference championships and state tournaments as members of the squad, but Shrader said their roles were even more critical this season.

?They?ve done a lot for Demon softball over the years,? Shrader said. ?This season, only winning seven games, it?s not what they are used to. They were a part of conference championships and getting fourth at state, but if it wasn?t for those two and their positive attitude, it could have been a miserable season. Sometimes, I don?t think the kids realized where we were at in the season, because they were fighting really hard.?

Of the returners, nine started more than 20 games this season for the Demons.

Seven of the top eight hitters (in terms of batting average) are slated to return for Washington in 2016, as are three of the top four RBI getters, including Brinning and Stout, who led the team with 16 each.

The top seven run scorers for the Demons will also return to the team next season, and with a little more work in the weight room, Shrader believes they can be much improved next season.

?We just have to get our pitchers more time, and make everyone stronger,? Shrader said. ?We aren?t very physically strong, because we just haven?t been able to spend a lot of time in the weight room. Now, being in there all softball season, they know what they need. We?ve gained a lot of experience, now it?s just a matter of us using it.?