Squaws drop JC to 0-5

The struggles continued Wednesday for the Jay County High School softball team, both at the plate and in the field.

The Patriot lineup produced just three hits and never got a runner past first base. And a couple of defensive errors led to a grand slam as part of a six-run fourth inning for the visiting Bellmont Squaws, who handed JCHS an 8-0 defeat.

"We're going through a tough time right now," said Patriot coach Doug Arbuckle, whose team is 0-5 and has been shut out three times. "We've got two starters who are injured. We've got some girls playing positions their not used to.

"We've just got to continue to work hard. We just need improvement right now. ... That's what we're looking at."

After Katie Knous drew a leadoff walk to open the fourth inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, Jay County was looking at a chance to get out of the inning with no damage done. But consecutive errors allowed one run to score and put runners on second and third with just one out.

Mikala Quinn knocked an RBI single, and a walk from Lauren Bowman loaded the bases. JCHS got the second out of the inning when Sara Williamson bounced a grounder to third baseman Selena McKibben, who threw to catcher Danielle Wellman for the force out at the plate.

But with the bases still loaded, Chelsea Colclasure made the Patriots pay for their mistakes. The Bellmont pitcher hit a high fly ball to left field that flew a couple of feet over Laura Castillo's glove as she crashed into the fence trying to make the play.

The grand slam completed the six-run inning - all of the runs were unearned - and the Squaws (3-1) added another tally in the fifth for the final margin.

"She's an all-around tremendous player," said Bellmont coach Aaron Baker. "She just happens to step up at the times she needs to, and that was one of them. She made solid contact and it went out of the park and she got some runs in.

"They had a couple of chances ... to get out of the inning. It was nice to take advantage of those and put runs up that we might not have gotten otherwise."

Colclasure also had a single, a walk and a stolen base in the win, and Knous finished 2-for-3 with three runs and a steal.

Castillo led off the bottom of the first inning with a single for the Patriots, but Colclasure retired the next three batters and stifled them throughout the game.

Danielle Wellman had the other two Jay County hits, a one-out single in the fourth inning and a leadoff single in the seventh. Taylor Steed was the only other Patriot base runner, drawing leadoff walk in the third inning.

Colclasure struck out just five batters, but the Squaws played error-free defense behind her with third baseman Brienna Burkhalter recording five put outs.

"That's kind of our team," said Baker. "We're going to be solid. We're going to be consistent, and that's going to keep us in a lot of the games. As a pitching staff for us, we've talked all year that we've got to throw strikes.

"We've got to make them put the ball in play and let our defense do the work."

Arbuckle said he feels his team has suffered a crisis of confidence in the first week of the season.

"Definitely at the plate," he said. "You're not going to face (the same kind of pitcher) every night, and you've got to make the adjustments. Right now, we're just not doing that ... We've got a few girls who are still hitting the ball really hard, but we've got some girls struggling."

The issues in the last two games - the Patriots fell 2-1 and had just four hits Tuesday against Southern Wells - have come against relatively slow pitching rather than fast. JCHS has routinely been well ahead of pitches up and down the order.

"We've got to keep our weight back," said Arbuckle. "We're just really anxious at the plate. We're not selective on the pitches. We need to be a lot better at that."

Rachelle Jackson suffered the loss for the Patriots as she gave up eight runs - two earned - on eight hits and three walks. She struck out eight batters.

Two-thirds of the runs scored against Jay County - 32-of-48 - this season have been unearned.

"We've got to play some good defense (behind out pitchers)," said Arbuckle. "We haven't done that consistently ... yet. We had a few errors and they led to unearned runs. We've just got to cut down on that and get mentally a little better approach to the game and know what we're doing before (the ball is hit)."[[In-content Ad]]