CLINTON—The Clinton softball team certainly hasn’t been thrilled with its winless start to the season, and the 13-6 loss to East Troy on Friday evening that pushed the Cougars to 0-4 wasn’t ideal either.
But assistant coach Emili Bell, filling in for head coach Ross Reincke, who was away on Friday, saw plenty of positives out of the setback that she isn’t pressing the panic button just quite yet.
“We're working through a couple of different styles of lineups just to see if we can get a little bit more to produce out of it,” she said. “We want to get better at bats and to be able to keep essentially passing the bat. The biggest piece is that I've got a couple of kids who are finally coming into their swings.
“(It’s) just the third game, we still have so much still to improve on and so much time, so I'm pretty excited for the season.”
The biggest area that needs improvement seems to be in the field. Clinton committed six errors and only six of starting pitcher Allie Bell’s nine runs were earned while all four of London Winch’s runs were unearned.
“We have had people, especially tonight, in a lot of different positions that were not normally where they tend to play,” coach Bell said. “(We need to be) getting a ton of reps, and we're still working a lot on the mental side, like attitudes, making sure that we are overcoming and getting better each play and forgetting about the last one, not letting it snowball into even more errors.”
Allie Bell was starting in place of Ashley Thiesen, the Cougars’ ace who missed her second game with a knee injury. Bell went 6 2-3 innings and allowed 11 hits, three walks and five strikeouts.
“Allie's not necessarily a pitcher, but she has come in and really helped and been able to set a tone,” coach Bell continued. “She's probably my best captain that we have on the team. Her presence on the field keeps everyone calm.”
Thiesen took an at-bat to test the knee and singled to right before being pulled for a pinch runner. A mix up in the substitution rules foiled the plans to get her a few innings in the circle.
“I would have loved to have gotten her an inning or two,” Bell said. “But honestly, I'm also okay with just letting her rest to get her back healthy for the rest of the season so we can be ready to roll.”
East Troy jumped out to a 2-0 lead before Bell’s single in the first scored Winch, who had lasered a double to center, to cut the deficit in half. The Trojans upped the lead to 6-2 on two one-run singles and a two-run double in the second but Clinton answered with Karlee Morris’ two-run single that snuck by the second baseman in the bottom of the second.
“Karlee is really good,” freshman Kylie Goodendorf said. “When she finds her pitch, she's able to drive it and pull it anywhere we really need her to.”
East Troy (2-4) upped its lead to 8-3 in the fourth and to 9-3 in the sixth.
Clinton chipped away with an RBI single from Goodendorf, and a sacrifice fly from Bell cut the Trojans’ lead to three runs.
“I just try not to overthink it,” said Goodendorf, who finished 2-for-3. “Don’t stay in your head, just find your pitches.”
But the Cougars committed three errors in the four-run seventh and allowed East Troy to bring the game to the final of 13-5.
Winch finished 2-for-4 with two runs while Grace Wilson also had two hits for Clinton, which finished with 11 total.
Coach Bell praised her players for their consistently solid at-bats.
“Grace is finally hitting the ball,” coach Bell said. “Kylie hit the ball so well today. Allie, London, all of them have been finally putting it all back together.”
Irelyn Loomis had a game-high four hits, three of those doubles, for the Trojans while Lilly Atkinson and Ava Johnson each had two. Makaya Anderson went all seven innings and allowed five runs (three earned) with three walks and five strikeouts.
The Cougars expect Theisen back this week, and they will face Delavan-Darien on Monday at 5 p.m.
“We always just try to improve after our last game, pick up those errors that we have made and just try not to make the same mistake,” Goodendorf said.
EAST TROY 13, CLINTON 5
ET 240 201 4 — 13 12 2
Clinton 120 002 0 — 5 11 6
Leading hitters: ET, Atkinson 3x5, 3 Runs, 1 RBI; Johnson 2x4, 3 Runs, 1 RBI; Feyen 1x5, 1 Run, 2 RBI; Loomis 4x5, 3 Runs, 3 RBI. Clinton, Winch 2x4, 2 Runs; Morris 1x3, 2 RBI; Goodendorf 2x3, 1 RBI; Wilson 2x4; Bell 1x3, 2 RBI; Witte 1x2, 2 Runs.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): ET, Anderson (W) 7.0-11-5-3-3-5. Clinton, Bell (L) 6.2-11-9-6-3-5, Winch 0.1-1-4-0-1-0.
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