Wellsville 11, Louisburg 10

WELLSVILLE – On two different occasions, in two separate games, the Louisburg High School softball team was just a handful of outs away from picking up a win.

Unfortunately for the Lady Cats, those final outs were hard to come by.

Wellsville put together rallies in both games of Thursday’s doubleheader with Louisburg in Wellsville to earn a sweep of the Lady Cats.

In the opener, the Eagles scored twice in the sixth inning for a come-from-behind 11-10 win and then rallied from three runs down in the seventh to take the nightcap over Louisburg, 6-5. The losses gave the Lady Cats a 1-7 record on the season.

“We had our hearts ripped out last Thursday, specifically in game two,” Louisburg coach John Ozier said. “Our record does not reflect the hard work and perseverance this group of young ladies have shown this season. In all but three of our games thus far, we have been right there with a chance to win until the last out was recorded. We continue to battle finishing games.”

Louisburg found a way to rally in game one, despite Wellsville scoring six runs in the bottom of the fifth to break a 3-all tie. The Lady Cats didn’t back down and put together a rally of their own with seven runs in the top of the sixth thanks to several key hits.

Sophomore Shayla Meyer drove home two on a double, while Madison Svoboda, Alyse Moore and Bailey Kern each had RBI singles. Paige Eccher scored on a wild pitch and Bailey Sarna slid safely into home after a groundout by Reilly Ratliff-Becher to give Louisburg a 10-9 lead.

Louisburg sophomore Reilly Ratliff-Becher makes contact with a pitch Thursday in Wellsville.

Wellsville answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth to grab lead back and the Lady Cats couldn’t respond in the seventh.

Junior Molly Rison led the Louisburg offense with three hits, including a double and an RBI. Meyer and Lauren Cutshaw both finished with a single and a double, and Meyer had a team-high 3 RBIs. Moore also had a pair of singles for Louisburg.

Meyer started the game for Louisburg and gave up six earned runs and had to work around six Lady Cat errors.

In the nightcap, Louisburg was in prime position to earn a split as it took a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning thanks to its 11 hits and the Lady Cats also took advantage of four Wellsville errors.

Rison led the Lady Cat bats again with three hits, while Moore, Karson Griggs and Svoboda all added two hits. Moore led Louisburg with 2 RBIs, while Meyer, Rison and Svoboda all had RBI hits.

Wellsville came through in the bottom of the seventh with a walk, two singles and two doubles to rally for the one-run win.

Kelsey Higginbotham started for the Lady Cats and pitched six strong innings and gave up just three earned runs before running into trouble in the seventh. Meyer came in for relief but the Eagles put the ball in play to get the walkoff win.

Despite the Lady Cats’ recent skid, they know they have been in a lot of games so far this season and they hope their luck changes soon.

“We are starting to get a few players back from health issues, so that should give us more depth from this point on,” Ozier said. “We are going through some ‘growing pains’ with some players learning new positions or playing at the varsity level for the first time.”

Louisburg will look to try and end its losing skid Tuesday when it hosts Baldwin in its home opener. First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m. at Lewis-Young Park.