Washington softball slips against Fort Madison

WASHINGTON — Washington softball took on the Southeast Conference lead Fort Madison Bloodhounds on Thursday night with an opportunity to shake up the league rankings.

It wasn’t meant to be as the Demons lost in back-to-back games to the Bloodhounds, 7-2 and 6-4, but Washington showed promise despite the pair of losses.

After five innings in game one, the SEC foes were dead locked, but Fort Madison used a big sixth inning to top Washington.

Fort Madison jumped out to a 2-0 lead after its half of the third inning as Washington went three up three down in its first two at-bats.

The Demons got out of the rut in the bottom half of the third. With two outs to begin the inning, Lauren Hinrichsen drew a walk. Leighton Salazar then delivered a single followed by Ava Turner with an RBI single to make it 2-1. Two runners were left on the base pads for the Demons.

“I though our energy was outstanding,” Washington head coach Ben Obermann said. “You take away two innings, we might have been the better team honestly. Really proud of our effort and our energy. I told the girls if we bring that, we’ll be really tough.”

Washington thrived on defense for the next two innings, allowing just six Fort Madison batters inside the box and in the bottom of the fifth, Turner picked up her second two out RBI of the night with yet another single bringing Salazar home to tie the game at 2-2.

Everything changed in the sixth, as the Bloodhounds stole the momentum with five runs in the inning.

Fort Madison rattled off seven singles in the inning after bringing 10 batters to the plate. Following the sixth, Washington trailed 7-2.

The Demons had one final chance to make a comeback in the seventh, but they could only get one runner giving the Bloodhounds a game one win.

Leighton Salazar and Turner were the only Demons with hits in the contest. Salazar finished with three hits and Turner had two, along with a pair of RBIs.

Bella Salazar and Claire Robinson each pitched for the Demons. Salazar pitched for six innings, allowing 11 hits, seven runs (six earned) and four strikeouts. Robinson pitched for an inning, giving up two hits.

In game two, the Demons once again found themselves trailing early. The Bloodhounds jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after two innings, but the Demons wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Washington scored three in the bottom of the third inning to make it a 5-3 ballgame.

“Our at-bats we great,” Obermann said. “We didn’t quit and we believed. In a lot of ways we felt that we were the team with the energy and momentum.”

After a scoreless fourth, Fort Madison added another run in the fifth. Washington had a big scoring opportunity in its half of the fifth, but the Demons flew out to end the inning with runners on second and third.

The Demons made quick work of the Bloodhounds in the top of the sixth and did some more scoring in their half of the inning, but it wouldn’t be enough in the end.

Turner continued to be clutch at the plate as she connected with a ball that found its way past the Fort Madison infield, making it 6-4.

After a quick top of the seventh and much like the first game, the Demons put one runner on base but were unable to make anything of it as Fort Madison completed the sweep.

Bella Salazar, RyLee Fishback, Emmy Wenger and Lauren Hinrichsen all had hits in the loss. Turner, Bella Salazar and Fishback each had RBIs as well.

Halle Cuddeback threw a complete game, allowing 10 hits, six runs (three earned), one hit by pitch and three strikeouts.

The Demons drop to 10-19 on the season and will take on Fairfield in their next SEC matchup on Monday.