Sikeston falters in late innings

Kelly's Haley Glastetter slides in safely at the plate as Sikeston's Sydney Davied attempts to make a tag. Kelly's Brittany Brantley (right) looks in on the play. The Lady Hawks won the contest 11-1 in six innings. (Photo by Josh Mills, Staff)

BENTON -- The Sikeston Lady Bulldogs suffered their second consecutive loss on Wednesday as they played solid defense until the fifth inning only to allow a close game to slip away yet again, this time to the Kelly Lady Hawks on their home field. Kelly eventually scored 10 runs in two innings to send Sikeston home with an 11-1 loss.

Up until the fifth inning the Lady Bulldogs appeared to be holding their own against a more experienced Lady Hawk club. Sarah Hopson had thrown four solid innings and the defense was nearly perfect behind her on every play. However, the bottom of the fifth inning began with a single by Carissa Klipfel and from there the Lady Hawks offensive production began to take form. A walk to Katee Moore, pair of singles from Londyn Backfisch and Haley Glastetter and a double by Casey Kern plated five runs for Kelly in the bottom of the fifth and just like that the home team was on top 6-1.

The Lady Bulldogs couldn't figure out Danielle Dock's style from the rubber and went quietly from the second inning to the sixth.

Sydney Davied relieved Hopson in the middle of the fifth and was in the pitcher's circle when the Lady Hawks rattled off the final five runs of the game to win by the mercy rule 11-1.

"Our first inning we were kind of wobbly," said Kelly head coach Rhonda Ratledge following the game. "We couldn't get our timing down, but after the fifth inning when we settled in we started to play good. We played good solid defense the whole game."

Dock was awarded the victory for Kelly, while Hopson suffered the loss for the visiting Lady Bulldogs.

"Again, same story, different day," said Sikeston head coach Tiffany King following the loss. "We played hard for four innings, it's just these little bitty mistakes that we make. We make one mistake and we think it's the end of the world. The girls have got to have confidence in themselves and believe in themselves that they can do it."

"I keep telling them that if I didn't think that they could play that spot then I wouldn't have them out there for that reason," she added. "It's just one of those things where they've got to have confidence in themselves and it's something that we have to build at Sikeston, especially in softball."

The Lady Hawks racked up 10 hits in the win, headlined by Kern who finished the day 3-for-4 with a single, a double, a triple, a run scored and four RBIs. Backfisch and Moore were each 2-for-3 in the contest with two runs scored.

For the Lady Bulldogs, Hopson, Davied and Mary Deason were each 1-for-3 with a single while Henson was 1-for-3 with a double. Deason had the lone RBI and Hopson scored the only run for Sikeston.

Both squads will be at home today as Kelly is set to face Cape Central and Sikeston will pay host to East Prairie. Both games are scheduled for 4 p.m.