By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
The youth on the Big Foot softball team at times comes right to the forefront.
That happened twice last week, as the inexperienced Chiefs had their chances in a pair of Rock Valley Conference games, but fell short in both.
Big Foot battled visiting Palmyra-Eagle in the week’s first game, but fell 2-1, followed by a 9-5 loss in the rematch two days later.
The two losses dropped the Chiefs to 9-8 overall and 8-6 in the RVC heading into a pair of games Wednesday and Thursday with Beloit Turner.
Errors and baserunning miscues were costly in both losses, Big Foot coach Rick Schoenbeck said.
“This is the same story when we were on the road earlier this year with losses to Jefferson and East Troy,” Schoenbeck said. “With such a young team, the pressure in tight games seems to bring on the errors.”
In the 9-5 loss May 5, the Chiefs held a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, but three errors and timely Palmyra hitting led to a seven-run frame, and Big Foot couldn’t recover.
Sophomore Lauren Paulsen, one of six 10th-graders seeing significant varsity time, led the Chiefs with three hits, a run scored and a RBI.
“She is a hard-working young lady who has improved so much over the year,” Schoenbeck said. “She’s very fundamentally sound throwing and (with) her footwork.
“(She) started the year and could not hit a ball in the cages, and she worked hard to fix her mechanics and become a good hitter.”
Courtney Schoenbeck added two hits, including a double, and two RBI, while Olivia Briggs had two hits, including a double. Yesenia Gonzalez scored two runs.
Riley Davis went the distance, as she allowed nine hits, five earned runs, a walk and struck out six.
Big Foot had just nine available players in the first game, as four girls were out because of illness or injury, including catcher Katie Santeler, who is out for the season with a shoulder injury.
The Chiefs tied the game at 1-1 on an RBI hit by Paulsen that scored Davis, but Palmyra put the final run on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth inning.
Morgan Stalker had two hits and two stolen bases, while Paulsen added two hits.
“With the inexperienced bats (in the lineup), we still outhit Palmyra, but could not connect hits to score runs,” Schoenbeck said. “We did not execute the small-ball game with runners at third and less than two outs to score runs.
“We had three costly baserunning mistakes, and both (of Palmyra’s) runs were unearned because girls were playing out of position.”
Davis took the complete-game loss, as he allowed four hits, four walks and struck out six.
Following the two RVC games this week, the Chiefs close their regular season Friday and Saturday at the Walworth County Tournament in Darien.
Schoenbeck said he’s hoping his team can have a good showing as they prepare for the upcoming postseason.
“We need to play error-free softball and execute to score runs,” he said. “We need to shore up our catcher situation and use our pitchers wisely with five games in four days, as we are not the deepest team.”
Schoenbeck said he expects Delavan-Darien, ranked in the top 10 in Division 2 and led by NCAA Division I pitching recruit Jennah Speth, is the favorite this weekend.
“(She) is a difference maker nobody else has,” he said.
