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The Parry McCluer High School softball team suffered three losses last week, falling to Altavista, Eastern Montgomery and Buffalo Gap.
Starting the week with a nondistrict game last Monday at Altavista (5-8), the Fighting Blues came up short 6-5, with the Colonels scoring the winning run in the seventh inning. A week earlier, Altavista had beaten PM 13-8 in Buena Vista.
PM suffered its first Pioneer District loss of the season last Wednesday at home against Eastern Montgomery, falling 9-5. The Blues fell to 4-1 in the district, while the Mustangs (10-3) ended the week also at 4-1 in the district. When PM and EM met on April 2 in Elliston, the Blues won 9-5.
The Blues struggled with early errors, committing a total of seven in the game, while the Mustangs had none.
“You’re not gonna beat a good team when you make seven errors, and that’s happened a couple times this year, so we’ve got to fix that,” said PM head coach Troy Clark. “That’s what we need to work on right now.”
EM took a 3-0 lead in the first inning and added another run in the second and one more in the third to go up 5-0.
The Blues scored their first run in the bottom of the third when Logan Vest hit a grounder to left field to bring home Autumn Mundy, cutting the lead to 5-1.
After making three fielding outs and not allowing a runner on base in the top of the fourth, the Blues scored four more runs in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game 5-5. Victoria Hamilton scored on a sacrifice fly to left field by Natalie Mohler, and Payton Emore doubled on a fly ball to left field to drive in Kadenze Zollman, Mundy and Mohler.
The Mustangs got the momentum back in the fifth, scoring two runs on a fielder’s choice to take a 7-5 lead.
EM scored the final two runs of the game on sacrifice fly balls in the sixth. The Blues got runners on base in the bottom of the sixth, but strong fielding from the Mustangs kept them from scoring, and EM made three quick outs in the seventh.
Clark said he was proud of his team’s effort, and he expects a play-in game between the Blues and Mustangs to determine the district regular- season champion. “We battled,” said Clark. “We played the whole game.”
Katie Salyer led the Mustangs with two hits while Gracey Shafer paced PM with two hits.
PM concluded the week with a 7-0 road loss to Buffalo Gap (9-2).
Today, Wednesday, the Blues will play host to Buffalo Gap at 5:30 p.m. They’ll return to district action at home against Craig County on Thursday at 5 p.m. before playing host to Nelson County on Friday at 7 p.m. PM will conclude the regular season next Wednesday, May 8, at 5 p.m. at local rival Rockbridge County.
PM SOPHOMORE Kadence Zollman squares around to bunt in last Wednesday’s home Pioneer District contest against Eastern Montgomery. Zollman scored during the Blues’ 4-run rally in the fourth inning, which tied the game at 5-5, but the Mustangs pulled away for a 9-5 win. (Ronnie Coffey photos)
FIGHTING BLUE Gracey Shafer heads down the third base line in PM’s 9-5 defeat to Eastern Montgomery in Buena Vista.
