By Chuck Reherman
Sports Editor
Yukon looked to “return the favor” to Edmond Memorial when the Lady Bulldogs came calling to the Millerette Softball Complex.
It didn’t go the way the Millerettes were wanting it to.
Edmond Memorial again turned a big second inning into a non-overcoming deficit and rolled to a 13-0 district 6A-2 win over the Millerettes Tuesday night.
The loss dropped the Millerettes to 5-4 in district play, 8-13 overall. Yukon, though, remained in fourth place in the district race with a chance to move up to third before going into regionals.
The Millerettes again saw Memorial take control of the game after the second inning. Memorial used four home runs in the first meeting in a 12-2 win, and added another one Tuesday.
“We just made mistake after mistake after mistake and more mental than physical,” Millerette head coach Katy Hoke said. “We didn’t know where to go with the ball when it was hit, we went to the wrong bags with throws and didn’t catch the ball when it was hit.
“Pitching, we didn’t score, so pitching isn’t going to win the game on that,” she said. “It could have kept us in it a whole lot better than what we were. There were several fly balls that should have been caught and a lot of things we work in practice, little things, we just didn’t do.”
The Millerettes trailed 1-0 going into the second after Beth Damon singled home a run, when the game went south.
Memorial turned a two-run scoring double from Sydnee Seat into an eight-run inning that broke the game open, 9-0. The Lady Bulldogs had one other RBI single and used a pair of Millerette errors to help break the game open.
Damon’s two-run home run in the third inning (her fourth in the two meetings, opened an 11-0 lead. A pair of RBI singles from Chenna Davidson in the third and fifth inning opened the 13-0 lead.
The Millerettes only real threat came in the fourth inning after Tori Hughes singled and Kinsleigh Thomas was hit by a pitch. But, both were stranded on base after a ground out ended the inning.
Yukon finished the game with only four hits and did strand eight runners on base. Memorial had 12 hits, three from Damon with four runs batted in.
“We are dealing with some young kids and we are trying to work with them and teach them, but I feel like when we go over it with them in practice that they answer the questions correctly and move to the right spots,” Hoke said. “I think the pressure of the game is slowing them up on some things, especially the young players. We have to work on the mental part of it going forward it.
“I told the girls after the game that they have not taken themselves out of anything,” she said. “We are trying to get ourselves in the best position to go win a regional. We would have loved to have host, but because we are not doesn’t mean we are out of it. You win regionals and you go to state and that is not impossible. We have to get this ship turned around and get on the same page.”
