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Washington Evening Journal
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Washington softball suffers first SEC loss
Demons come up short in conference battle with Keokuk
WASHINGTON — Washington softball has been dominant to say the least when facing Southeast Conference opponents this season.
Heading into the Demons SEC matchup with Keokuk on Thursday night, their closest conference matchup was a 6-4 win over Fort Madison in the first week on June.
Meanwhile, in their two previous matchups against Keokuk, the Demons had outscored the Chiefs 30-6.
But it was Keokuk who had the last laugh in the two’s final regular season head-to-head, 7-4.
No. 8 Washington fell behind early.
Both teams went scoreless through the first frame, but Keokuk took control through the second and third.
The Chiefs brought a pair of runs in the both the second and third inning, scoring off a triple and ground out in the second inning, while a Washington error brought two more home in the third.
Despite falling behind 4-0, the Demons stayed focused.
In the bottom half of the fourth, Washington came storming back. After Colbie Greiner was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, she later scored on an RBI single by Rylee Libe to get the Demons on the board.
In the next at-bat, Lauren Hinrichsen drew a walk and Kendall Hinrichsen followed with a hard driven ball toward second that couldn’t be corralled by the Chief’s defense.
Hinrichsen ended up on second, while two more runs went up on the board for Washington to cut the Keokuk lead to 4-3.
It didn’t stop there. At the top of the order, Leighton Salazar brought the game even with an RBI double.
Although the Demons came back to tie the game, they could never gain the lead.
The two squads went scoreless through the next four innings before the game was decided in the ninth.
In the top of the ninth, the Chiefs regained the lead with a trio of runs, highlighted by a two run inside the park home run.
Washington got runners at first and second in its half of the inning, but couldn’t get the runs home.
With the loss, Washington moves to 21-5 on the season and 11-1 in conference play.
