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The day didn't start so well on Thursday for the Highland girls softball team and it didn't end so well either.
During the school day, senior catcher Rachel Aide was hit in the head with a frisbee and suffered dizziness. She was held out of that afternoon's game against Belmont.
That put freshman back-up catcher Kelly Ramsden in a tough spot as the game was for the outright Six Rivers West conference championship - the Lady Braves had only one loss and the Cardinals were unbeaten They handed Belmont their lone loss 12-0 on May 3rd.
The teams could see each other one more time this season, in the sectional semifinals on June 7th, as both teams received number one seeds in their WIAA Division 4 regionals.
I thought Kelly did a good job stepping into Rachel's shoes, They are big shoes to fill,"said Highland coach Sarah Hennessey.
The Lady Braves won the contest 17-2 behind the steady pitching of Kalyn Kamps - five strikeouts, no walks and two runs on three hits.
That gave both teams one loss, but the Lady Braves still had a make up game at Potosi on Monday to wrap up the regular season, so Highland still held a one half game lead.
In the game Thursday, Belmont plated two runs in the first inning, two more in the third and held a 4-1 lead after four.
In that frame, Molly Bockhop and Niki Jenkins had singles and Kamps had a sacrifice fly.
That Cardinal run scored as Ramsden (1x2) singled, was sacrificed to second and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Carlee Yanna.
Belmont tallied four more times in the sixth to go up 8-1 and then put it away with nine in the seventh. Two singles, a walk and two Highland errors figured in the scoring.
They collected 10 hits off of Cardinal hurler Emily Wolfe, who struck out 12 and walked seven. Her team didn't help her out by committing seven errors behind her.
On the day, Jenkins was 3x5 with a double, Kamps went 2x4, Emma Eastlick 2x5, Kimirae Bartell 1x2 with a two bagger and Bockhop popped a double and had theree rbi.
Highland's two other hits led to their lone run in the bottom of the seventh. Emily Rose (1x3) singled and scored as Kendall Wienkes (1x3) poked a double.
The game ended on the next play as Belmont's shortstop, Molly Bockhop, snagged a liner by Taylor Wienkes and doubled her cousin off of second.
"We can't win a game like this with seven errors," Hennessey pointed out. "The girls have to come focuses and stay intense for seven innings - today we didn't do that."
R H E
Belmont 202 004 9 - 17 10 2
Highland 001 000 1 - 2 3 7