Girls drop game to Edgerton, 12-5
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
After the top of the first inning at Edgerton last week, things were definitely looking up for the East Troy High School softball team.
But that didn’t last long, unfortunately, as the Tide responded in a big way.
East Troy took a 3-0 lead after the opening frame, but Edgerton answered with five runs of its own en route to a 12-5 Rock Valley Conference victory.
The loss dropped the Trojans to 5-6 overall and 5-5 in conference play, while Edgerton improved to 8-2 and 7-1 in the RVC North.
East Troy was back in action Tuesday afternoon at Beloit Turner, currently ranked third in Division 2. Results of that contest were unavailable by press time.
After the solid start against Edgerton, East Troy coach Greg Prince said his team’s defense and an umpire’s ruling that his pitcher was throwing illegally seemed to rattle the young Trojans.
“We didn’t play a very crisp game,” Prince said. “I’m not saying we would have won, but we hit the ball well. Defensively, we would have one mistake here and one mistake there and just allowed things to keep going.
“We had the opportunity to make some plays. But I’ll give Edgerton credit. They hit the ball well. It was just one of those games that kind of got away from us.”
East Troy cut the deficit to 7-3 in the top of the third, but the Tide continued to hit and scored five more runs the last four innings. The Trojans added their last tally in the fifth.
Krystal Jacobs led the Trojans with two hits, followed by Caitlyn O’Connell and Chloe Jakscht with two apiece.
Prince has been pleased with his team’s overall offense.
“We’ve been swinging the bats fairly well,” he said. “Unfortunately, the thing that happened this game is we could have put more runs on the board.
“When you fall behind by seven runs, it really takes away some opportunities when you can do some things to score a few more runs.”
Miranda Dallas took the loss, as she allowed 17 hits, five walks and struck out four.
Following Tuesday’s game with Turner, the Trojans will get another crack at Edgerton, this time at home when they host the Tide Thursday at 4:45 p.m.
East Troy hosts Jefferson Saturday at 10 a.m. to close out its week.
Prince has been encouraged by his young team’s progress to this point, but he also knows there’s still plenty of work ahead.
“I think we’re getting better,” he said. “We’ve been progressing at the plate. The younger kids are starting to understand what they need to do to be able to compete at a varsity level. Offensively, we’re getting there.
“Defensively, we’re just a little inconsistent. We need to do a better job of maintaining our focus all the time. Sometimes we have a little trouble with that.”
Prince added that he wants his team to lessen the stress the girls put on themselves as well.
“I think the girls put a lot of pressure on themselves, too,” he said. “They just have to relax, play softball and the rest will take care of itself.”
