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By Levi Zimmerman
Iowa-Grant Panthers softball had a tough outing Saturday in a four-team tournament.
Iowa-Grant hosted Highland, Prairie du Chien and Mount Horeb at Cobb City Park.
The Panthers opened the tournament facing the Blackhawks.
Prairie du Chien started hot, scoring nine runs in the top of the first inning.
The rest of the way, the Blackhawks were steady, tallying runs in the second, third, fourth and fifth inning.
Prairie du Chien held Iowa-Grant to just two runs in the first inning and proceeded to score a 13-2 win, ending the game after five innings due to the 10-run rule.
The Blackhawks had eight hits.
Meanwhile, sophomore Scout Hall pitched five innings, giving up nine hits and throwing 15 first-pitch strikes and just one strikeout.
The Panthers struggled mightily in the field, committing eight errors, resulting in more opportunities for the Blackhawks.
Prairie du Chien sophomore Ally Wall led offensively with three hits and three runs-batted-in.
Scout Hall also drove in two runs.
Iowa-Grant sophomore Bentley Cutts threw four and a third innings, striking out eight and walking just one.
Cutts allowed three hits and four unearned runs.
Fellow sophomore pither Lily Pettit started the game, but she was relieved by Cutts after one out.
Pettit went one-for-two from the plate and scored a run.
Pettit received the loss and gave up five hits, one earned run and nine un-earned runs.
Junior Indigo Kemnitzer led the Panthers with three hits.
Junior Lexi Vavricka had two hits and scored a run, and sophomore Elyse Linschied had a couple hits.
Box Score
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
PDC 9 1 1 1 1 x x 13 8 0
I-G 2 0 0 0 0 x x 2 9 8
I-G pitching
Pettit - (L) .1 IP, 5 H, ER, 9 R
Cutts - 4.2 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 8 K, ER, 4 R
I-G batting
McCarthy - 0/2, BB
Whitaker - 1/1
Pilling - 0/1, RBI, BB
Pettit - 1/2, R, BB
Cutts - 0/3
Shores - 0/2
Linschied - 2/2
Vavricka - 2/2, RBI, R
Kemnitzer - 3/3
PDC pitching
Hall (W) - 5 IP, 9 H, 3 BB, K, 2 ER
PDC batting
#2 - 0/0, R
Krahn - 0/0, R
Nall - 2/4, 2B, RBI, 2 R
Hall - 1/3, 2B, 2 RBI, R, BB
Wall - 3/4, 2B, 3 RBI, R
Fulkr - 0/3, R
Knapp - 0/3, R
Mitchell - 1/3, HR, 3 RBI, R
Quick - 1/3, 2B, RBI, R
Cejka - 0/4, RBI, 2 R
Kennedy - 0/4, R
I-G vs. Highland
The Panthers couldn't recover after the Cardinals took an early lead and ran away with a 10-3 victory over the Panthers.
Highland grabbed the lead in the second inning by drawing a walk with the bases loaded, bringing in the first run of the game.
The Cardinals scored four runs in the fourth inning.
Cloe Campbell hit a RBI single, and Meg Tarrell hit a RBI double.
Lilly Michek and Grace Dreischmeier also drove in runs.
Dreishmeier pitched a complete game for Highland, going seven innings on the hill; she struckout seven, walked one and allowed nine hits and three runs.
Cutts received the loss on the mound for the Panthers.
She pitched three innings, giving up five runs and one hit; Cutts had five punch-outs.
Offensively, Cutts hit a solo homerun in the final inning.
Cutts led in hits with three, as did freshman Lakyn Holman.
Although Iowa-Grant out-hit Highland, nine-to-six, they also led in errors with five.
Iowa-Grant head coach Brian Coulthard shared his thoughts on the day.
"To be completely honest with you, Saturday was a day we are telling the girls to forget. The scores make us look like we were overmatched, but that was not the case," said Coulthard. "The pitchers threw well, considering we could not make a play behind them."
He said the Panthers need to cut-down on the errors in order to stay in games.
"When you look at the defensive stats, we had 14 errors, and nobody will win a game like that. We actually hit the ball hard, but playing from behind because of errors made us change our game plans right from the start," Coulthard stated.
Like many teams in the area, Coulthard said the Panthers are eager to get outside and get to get to work on the field.
"We need to get outside on the dirt and do a lot of defensive work as well as evaluate a couple of positions," he said. "The girls and coaches will get it fixed and look to get back to playing good, fundamental softball."
Iowa-Grant fell to 1-3 with the loss, and Highland improved to 2-2.
Box Score
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
H 0 2 1 4 0 1 2 10 6 3
I-G 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 3 9 5
I-G pitching
Cutts (L) - 3 IP, H, 6 BB, 5 K, ER
Pettit - 4 IP, 5 H, BB, 4 K, 2 ER
I-G batting
McCarthy - 1/4, 2B, R
Fielder - Fosbinder - 0/0
Whitaker - 1/3
Cordts - 0/1
Pilling - 0/4
Pettit - 0/4, RBI
Cutts - 3/3, 3B, HR, RBI, R, BB
Linschied - 1/3, RBI
Vavricka - 0/2
Holman - 3/3, R
Kemnitzer - 1/2
Highland pitching
Dreischemeir (W) - 7 IP, 9 H, BB, 7 K, 2 ER
Highland batting
Campbell - 1/2, 2 RBI, R, 2 BB
Cody - 2/5, RBI, R
James - 0/4, 2 R
Schmitz - 0/0
Dreischmeier - 0/4, RBI, R, BB
Drury - 0/3, R, BB
Tarrell - 1/3, 2B, RBI, R, BB
Halverson - 0/4, R
Michek - 2/5, 2B, RBI, R
Imhoff - 0/2, RBI, R, 2 BB