Out in opener

FORT RECOVERY — Pitchers and fielders both struggled to keep the Panthers off the base paths. Once they reached base, it was often difficult to keep them from scoring.

Eight errors and 14 base hits were too much for the Indians to handle Tuesday.

The Fort Recovery High School softball team’s season came to a close as it dropped its sectional opener 10-4 to the ninth-seeded Paulding Panthers.

The Indians (7-15), who were seeded seventh, struggled to keep the Panthers off of the bases the entire night. They only held Paulding (6-9) hitless in one inning and only had one clean inning defensively.

“I feel like a broken record to be honest,” FRHS coach Carrie Schoen said. “Every time … it’s errors.”

Of Fort Recovery’s eight errors, five of them allowed a run to score or resulted in the batter eventually coming around to score. The first two errors came in the four-run second inning.

Sophie Pearson struck the first batter out before giving up a single and a walk to put runners on first and second base. The fourth batter of the inning, Samantha Leal, hit a popup that bounced off of Ava Grisez’s glove to load the bases.

Paulding’s Maci Kauser then hit a line drive to left field to plate the first two runs of the game. After another single, the bases were once again loaded. Jalyn Klopfenstein then hit a ground ball to Cali Wendel at shortstop, who fielded the ball, but turned to throw to the incorrect base allowing Leal to score. Another run scored on a fielder’s choice before a ground ball to Maddie Guggenbiller ended the inning.

While the third inning was cleaner with only one error, the Panthers were able to time Pearson up, hitting three singles and a double to score three more runs.

“It’s tough for pitchers. Pitching is tough mentally. It’s tough physically,” Schoen said. “We struggled with a lot of hits tonight and the errors on top of that did not help. You put those two in combination, it’s tough to win games.”

Pearson suffered the loss, giving up seven runs on eight hits through 2 2/3 innings in the circle.

Britney Tebbe came into the game to record the final out and pitch the fourth inning, in which she gave up one unearned run because of a ball that was shot through Guggenbiller’s legs.

Tebbe was able to help the team at the plate, shooting two balls down the first-base line in the second and fourth innings. The former drove in the first run of the game for the Indians.

The Indians came out swinging in the bottom of the third as the first two batters hit hard ground balls that resulted in outs before Audra Bubp hit a two-out single to left field.

Pearson followed the single with a screamer that hit off of Jocelynn Parrett’s glove in center field, allowing Bubp to score. The Panthers then took the bat out of Guggenbiller’s hands, intentionally walking her to get to Kylie Post, who struck out looking.

Guggenbiller, who set the Fort Recovery career-home run record this season, was intentionally walked twice in the game. She finished the season with six home runs and 15 in her career.

“I feel bad for my teammates. I wish I could have done more,” Guggenbiller said. “It’s an accomplishment that I’ve worked for, for a while. I’m super proud of myself being able to do that. I hope the Indians come back stronger next year.”

The Indians made a push in the seventh inning, but fell short. With two outs, Pearson delivered a single to keep their hopes alive and advanced to second on an error by Parrett. Guggenbiller was intentionally walked before Post delivered an RBI single up the middle.

Grisez followed with a single to left field, scoring Guggenbiller before Tia Mendez induced a ground ball to end the game.