Offensive outburst not enough for Lady Cats against Osawatomie

By Andy Brown
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Updated: April 24, 2018

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg junior Maddie Svoboda makes contact with a pitch on April 17 during the Lady Cats’ home opener against Baldwin. Louisburg hosted Osawatomie and Baldwin last week, but fell in both doubleheaders.

If there is such thing as bad luck, the Louisburg High School softball team is battling through a long string of it this season and it got even longer Thursday against Osawatomie.

Louisburg’s offense had one of its best performances of the season as it pounded out 30 runs against the Trojans, but the Lady Cats couldn’t hang on as they lost a pair of high-scoring affairs, 24-19 and 12-11, at Lewis-Young Park.

It was a frustrating ending to what looked like a promising start to the day for the Lady Cats, which saw their record drop to 1-11.

“This has been a season of great adversity for our girls,” Louisburg coach John Ozier said. “We have battled hard on the field with only one win to show for it. On the plus side, we have actually grown closer as a team and remain committed to improve. I am seeing some older players that I would characterize as quiet leaders, start to come out of their comfort zone and assert themselves more.

“Our biggest obstacle right now is ourselves. At the latter stages of games, of which we have the lead, we become tense and are playing to not lose and are ‘hoping to win.’ We are working very hard on the mental side of the game, which we hope will translate into a philosophy of ‘expecting to win.’”

The Lady Cats had everything going their way to start the opener of the doubleheader. Louisburg jumped out to a 15-1 lead after three innings, but the Trojans started cutting into lead.

Osawatomie scored eight runs in the fourth, six runs in the fifth and seven in the sixth to take the lead for good to complete the wild comeback.

It was tough game defensively for both teams as they combined for 16 errors in the contest, but the offense for both tried to make up for it as they totaled 35 hits between the two.

Junior Molly Rison had a big game at the plate in both games, as she finished with three hits, that included a double and 5 RBIs. Lauren Cutshaw found a lot of success at the plate as she totaled a team-high five hits.

Junior Molly Rison had a big day Thursday against Osawatomie as she tallied 9 RBIs in the two losses.

Karson Griggs was another key fixture in the Lady Cat offensive barrage as she tallied three hits, including a solo home run in the fifth inning. Reilly Ratliff-Becher had 3 RBIs for Louisburg, while Kayla Willey, Shayla Meyer and Paige Eccher also drove in a pair of runs.

Junior Madison Svoboda also scored three runs and added an RBI to her total.

Louisburg suffered another rough blow in the nightcap as it took a 9-7 lead into the sixth inning before Osawatomie answered with four runs to go up by two. The Lady Cats answered with a pair of runs in the sixth to tie it before Osawatomie scored one in the seventh to seal the win again.

Rison continued her hot hitting as she led the Louisburg bats four hits, including a solo home run, two doubles and 4 RBIs, which gave her 9 RBIs for the doubleheader.

Cutshaw added three hits with a double, while Griggs and Ratliff-Becher both finished with two hits each and Ratliff-Becher also recorded double. Eccher added 2 RBIs in the loss and Alyse Moore also finished the game with a double.

The Lady Cats will try and get back on track today when they travel to De Soto at 3&2 Ballpark. First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m.

Lady Cats fall to Baldwin in doubleheader

After two weeks, the Louisburg softball team finally got its opportunity to play at home on April 17 when the Lady Cats hosted Baldwin.

Unfortunately, their home didn’t treat them well.

Baldwin got out to big leads early in both games and didn’t look back as it handed Louisburg a pair of 17-0 and 17-5 losses.

Louisburg actually took a 4-1 lead after two innings in the nightcap, but Baldwin used a 10-run third inning to pull away for the win.

Junior Molly Rison led the Louisburg offense in the second game with two singles, a double and an RBI, while junior Karson Griggs added a single and a double. Kelsey Higginbotham had a single and 2 RBIs. Shayla Meyer finished with two singles and drove in a run.