Crawfordsville was three outs away from its first softball win of the season, but Central Catholic plated seven runs in the seventh inning to defeat the Athenians 13-10 on Monday night.
The Athenians (0-20) led 8-1 after four innings, but the Knights (3-18) scored five runs in the fifth, before taking their first lead with the seven-run seventh. In their final at-bat, Central Catholic had four hits and took advantage of a pair of Crawfordsville errors.
“Tonight I told them before the game it was going to come down to defense and pitching,” Crawfordsville coach Kevin Kellerman said. “I said our offense is going to take care of itself tonight, and for the most part it did. We had 17 hits tonight, but we couldn’t get the big hit when we needed it and kept leaving runners on base.”
There was certainly no lack of offense.
Laine Schlicher led the Athenians with a 5-for-5 night, including her first home run of the season and drove in three runs. Brooklyn Mills added a three-run home run — her fourth long ball of the season. Halle Elliott also had three hits, Bailey Craine and Olivia Reed had two apiece.
Crawfordsville did leave 10 runners on base though, and committed four errors.
“They have to believe they can win and have that killer instinct to win,” Kellerman said. “I’ve got some, but I don’t have a collective group of girls who believe they can win this game and finish this game. And they are certainly trying, just things sometimes don’t go your way, no matter how hard you try.”
Madyson Minnich led the Knights with three hits and four RBI.
Crawfordsville continues its busy week tonight — hosting North Montgomery.
“Tonight I thought would have been a great start to a great week. North Montgomery is just as hungry as we are,” Kellerman said.
