Lady Cats find positives in close loss to Tonganoxie

Louisburg junior Megan Quinn makes contact with a pitch last week. Quinn finished with two home runs last week against Tonganoxie and Bonner Springs.

It may have not ended its week with a win, but it wasn’t all doom and gloom — in fact it was quite the opposite.

The Lady Cats took away several positives from their contests against Bonner Springs, and most recently, Tonganoxie.

On Thursday at Lewis-Young Park, the Lady Cats put together one of their better games of the season against one of the top teams in the Frontier League. Louisburg stayed within striking distance, but came up just short in a 6-4 loss to the Chieftains

“Tongie is a great team,” Louisburg coach Nick Chapman said. “Going into this game, we knew that they had beaten some good teams early like Spring Hill. We played about as well as we have. We just needed to be more consistent at the plate. I think right now we are one or two plays away from being a great team and playing to our potential.”

Louisburg (3-8) found itself down, 3-0, to Tonganoxie (5-1) after one inning, but the Lady Cat offense kept chipping away.

Junior Megan Quinn got the offense kick started with a solo home run in the bottom of the second — her second long ball in as many games.

Tonganoxie scored two more in the third to make it a 5-1 advantage, but the Lady Cats answered right back. Junior Jenna Cauthon singled home Katie McKain and Ashley Moreau to keep the deficit at two runs.

Sophomore Brynley Bauer trimmed the Tonganoxie lead to one in the sixth on an RBI single that scored Addy Stohs. However, the Chieftains tacked on a run in the seventh and the Lady Cats could get no closer.

Izzy Moreland got the start for Louisburg and kept the Lady Cats in it as she pitched six innings and struck out three. Quinn came on in relief in the final inning and struck out a batter.

Offensively, the Lady Cats are starting to find a groove at the plate. Moreau, the team’s leadoff hitter, has a .550 average on the season.

Moreland, Cauthon and Quinn are also all batting over .300 through 11 games and have all tallied big hits throughout the year.

Louisburg hopes to continue its improvement tomorrow as the Lady Cats travel to McPherson for a quad. The Lady Cats will square off with the host school first at 4 p.m. and then will either play Derby or Emporia in their next game.

Lady Cats fall in doubleheader to Bonner Springs

The Louisburg softball team showed fight last Tuesday in its home doubleheader against Bonner Springs, but lost a pair of games to the Braves, 7-2 and 12-8.

The Lady Cats couldn’t keep the Braves’ offense down as they combined in the 19 runs and 26 hits in the two games.

In the first game, Bonner Springs scored five runs in the third inning to take the early lead and it was all the Braves needed.

Ashley Moreau led Louisburg with a pair of hits and a run scored and Izzy Moreland had the team’s lone RBI. Jenna Cauthon, Megan Quinn and Katie McKain also had hits for the Lady Cats.

In the nightcap, Bonner Springs took an 11-3 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning, but the Lady Cats didn’t give up. Louisburg scored four runs in the sixth and another in the seventh, but fell short.

“We are executing more and more on defense,” Chapman said. “We ran into a good team that hit the ball really well consistently. We were not as consistent at the plate. I thought we hit well, but just started a little too late. I’m proud of how we came back in the second game down eight and we worked back to get it close.”

Moreau had two hits, including a double, to lead the Louisburg bats. Freshman Delaney Nelsen finished with a team-high 2 RBIs and a double.

Quinn hit solo home run late and Moreland also had an RBI single. McKain and freshman Shyloh Waite also had hits for Louisburg.

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