Washington softball withers against Burlington

WASHINGTON — Washington softball has had its ups and downs here in the early season.

Despite the struggles, there’s no doubt that Washington is one of the most dangerous teams in the Southeast Conference, which they showed glimpses of Wednesday night.

The Demons played host to the SEC leaders, the Burlington Grayhounds in a doubleheader on Wednesday night.

It wasn’t a result the Demons would have liked as they were bested by the conference leaders in both games 5-3 and 4-1. Despite the loss, Washington showed they can hang with the top teams in the SEC.

Washington held the lead in each of the two games, but Burlington turned it on late to squeak by the Demons.

The Demons led the Grayhounds for the majority of the fixture in game one. After putting Burlington three up three down in its half of the first, Washington took the lead in the bottom of the inning.

Eigthgrader Leighton Salazar got Washington started off right with a single, followed by a sacrifice bunt from Ella Greiner. Isabella Salazar then drew a walk followed by Alyvia Ander who grounded out, but as Salazar was running to third the throw sailed gifting the Demons their first run of the game, 1-0.

Neither team would score again for over four innings.

Throughout the first five innings, the Demons played phenomenal on the defensive end.

Halle Cuddeback was fantastic from the circle, as she kept the ball in the infield.

“Halle and Bella (Izabella Salazar pitched the second game) were great all night,” Washington head coach Ben Obermann said. “They were throwing first pitch strikes, changing speed and changing location. You can't ask much more out of them.”

Washington had a slew of chances to score, as they left runners on second and third in the bottom of the third and also a single runner on third in the fifth.

Following a scoreless second to fifth inning, everything started to go the Grayhounds way.

After a quick first out for the Demons, an error gave the Grayhounds a free runner. Following a bunt and an errant throw to first, Burlington had runners at the second and third with one out.

The Demons got another ground out, but they couldn’t get out of the jam.

There was some controversy with the next two at bats.

Burlington hit a single which scored their first run, but it appeared the ball hit the batters foot in the box which would have been a dead ball, but it was decided different. In the next at-bat, Burlington hit another single and the throw to first would have been on time, but it was said that the foot was not on the bag. The umpires converged once again, but the call went Burlington’s way and they now led 2-1.

By the bottom of the seventh inning, the Demons still trailed and needed a run to send it to extra innings or two to win it.

Washington got the run they needed to tied it 2-2 after Ella Greiner hit a double to drive in a run.

Burlington however, had all the answers in extra innings. The Grayhounds scored five runs in the top of the eighth. The Demons were able to get one back themselves, but it wasn’t enough.

The Demons began to struggle on the defensive side of the ball late in the game, as a few miscues played into the Grayhounds favor.

Obermann says the Demons are struggling to score runs at this point in the season and defense becomes even more of a priority when runs are not being scored.

“We’re not scoring many runs right now,” Obermann said “When your not scoring, defense becomes more magnified. You got to play a superbly clean game and we just haven’t gotten that yet.”

The Demons had eight hits in game one, Leighton Salazar, Isabella Salazar and Lauren Hinrichsen all had two hits in the game. Haley Mitchell and Ella Greiner both had one hit.

Cuddeback allowed six hits in the contest, five runs (three earned), one walk and two strikeouts.

In game two both teams were knotted up for two innings, but Washington once against took the lead with a single run in the bottom of the third after Greiner delivered with an RBI single.

It would be the Demons only run in the game.

Burlington scored two runs in each of the next two innings to take command of the game, 4-1.

Washington battled throughout the sixth and seventh, but the Grayhound were near perfect in the infield as every hit was corralled. As for the Demons, they struggled on the defensive side of the ball.

“They made maybe one mistake on defense all night,” Obermann said. “That was the big difference.”

Isabella Salazar finished with two hits in the second game. Ava Turner, Greiner and Leighton Salazar each had one hit.

Isabella Salazar threw from the circle in game two. She allowed five hits, four runs (two earned), two walks and four strikeouts.

“We wanna be the team that when regional play comes around no one wants to see,” Obermann said. “That’s the goal. You wanna be peaking at the right time and we’re not peaking right now, but that’s good. We wanna be playing our best ball in late June and early July.”