While the weather was absolutely perfect for softball action, the recent struggles for the Christian County Lady Colonels continued Saturday at Mike Miller Mark in Draffenville during the 2024 Marshall County Slugest. The Lady Colonels were right in the thick of both of their games at some point but ended up losing 7-5 to Graves County and 8-3 to McCracken County.
In the opener, Christian County trailed just 3-2 heading into the sixth inning. But then pitching issues led to a big inning for Graves County. The Lady Eagles used four walks and a hit batter to help ignite a four-run inning and took a 7-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth.
But then the Lady Eagles had their own troubles in the circle. Brooklyn Cole walked the first two Christian County batters of the inning and was then replaced by Olivia Powers, who fared no better. Powers walked the first three batters she faced, loading the bases and scoring two runs for the Lady Colonels to make it 7-4.
Another trip to the bullpen in the bottom of the 6th brought Anna Rogers into the game and it turned out to be the biggest decision of the game for Coach Dana Adkins. Rogers gave up an infield single to Avery Adcock and suddenly, the Lady Colonels were within two runs and had the bases loaded with no outs.
But, Graves County had Anna Rogers in the circle. After giving up the RBI single to Adcock, Rogers slammed the door on the rally by striking out Gracie Harned, Jazzy Tejada, and Jordan Turner to end the threat. After giving up a walk to open the bottom of the 7th, Rogers set down the next three Lady Colonels to close out the win.
Christian County scored five runs but only had one hit in the game, that coming on the infield hit from Avery Adcock. They did take advantage of 13 walks from Lady Eagles’ pitching.
The Lady Colonels had their own battles with the free passes as two Christian County pitchers gave up 6 walks in the contest.
The second game of the day had the Lady Colonels taking on 1st Region favorite McCracken County. Christian County took a 2-1 lead into the top of the 5th, only to see the Lady Mustangs score 7 runs over the final three innings to take an 8-3 win.
Chloe Almy and Avery Adcock led off the bottom of the first with back-to-back singles. After the two advanced a base on a wild pitch, Gracie Harned scored Almy on a ground out to give the Lady Colonels a 1-0 lead.
McCracken County came back to even things up in the top of the 2nd on an RBI double. A Christian County error opened the door for the Lady Mustangs to score the run.
Christian County got back to the lead in the bottom of the 3rd on an RBI single from Jazzy Tejada that made it a 2-1 game.
The McCracken County bats got going in the top of the fifth. The Lady Mustangs used five hits, a walk, and a sac fly to score four runs and take a 5-2 lead.
Avery Adcock temporarily stemmed the tide with a shot over the left field fence in the bottom of the 5th to trim the lead back to 5-3.
The Lady Mustangs then sealed the win with three runs in the top of the 7th. The big blow was a two-run homer from Raygan Rogers.
The Christian County offense was a bit more productive against the Lady Mustangs, finishing with seven hits. Avery Adcock and Jazzy Tejada were each 2-3 with an RBI.
Jordan Turner went the distance in the circle. She gave up 8 runs, 7 of them earned, on 12 hits, striking out four and walking one.
The Lady Colonels have now lost 6 of their last seven and drop to 7-7 on the season. They are set to host Hopkinsville Monday evening in an 8th District contest.
