ORIGINALLY WRITTEN TOM STOPPEL
The Tabor College softball team, playing its second double header in two days Friday, was swept by Friends, 10-0 and 6-3, in Wichita.
In the opener, the Bluejays had just attended the memorial services for the father of team member Julie Wall.
“I feel thought we were ready to play, but I know that was on our minds,” coach Tina King said.
Tabor managed only three hits-one each by Porsche Davis, Johannah Love and April Funk.
Meanwhile, pitcher Holly Lindsay allowed eight hits in four innings for Tabor.
In the second game, Tabor seemed to be on the way to a split. The Bluejays erupted for three first-inning runs when Erin Loewen, Love and Tamara McCarren all singled and Funk doubled.
Funk, Love and McCarren each drove in a run to give Tabor a 3-0 lead.
With Love on the mound, Friends managed just one hit through four innings before disaster struck in the fifth.
With Tabor leading 3-0, Friends placed runners on first and second with two outs when Love cleanly fielded a ball, needing just a short toss to first for the final out of the inning. But her throw sailed over first base, opening the flood gates as Friends went on to score six runs in the inning on four hits.
“Jo plays second base when she’s not pitching, so that throw isn’t much different for her,” King said. “It was just one of those things and it really hurt us but she felt worse than anybody about it so you just move on.”
One-out singles by Loewen and Lindsay in the top of the seventh gave Tabor hope, but Friends registered the final two outs to preserve its 6-3 win.
With the losses, Tabor falls to 5-14 for the season and 1-5 in KCAC play.
“We just need to wipe out those errors and fix some little things,” King said. “We’re going to keep working until we get those little things fixed and we’ll do that. We’ll be alright.”
Saint Mary-Tabor split a pair of games at home against Saint Mary on Thursday, losing the opener 7-1 and taking the second game 10-0.
In the opener, pitcher Holly Lindsay allowed nine hits while facing 34 batters.
After Saint Mary opened with three first-inning runs on three hits, Tabor answered with a single run in the bottom half of the inning after Erin Loewen reached on an error, stole third base and scored on another Spire error.
But that was all the scoring Tabor could muster as Saint Mary went on for the victory.
“This game was on the same night as the junior/senior banquet,” coach Tina King said. “Some people said we played like we wanted to be at the banquet and not at the game.”
But the Bluejays came back to win Game 2, 10-0, behind the no-hit pitching of Johannah Love.
The Wichita junior faced 17 batters in the five-inning, run-rule-shortened game while striking out three.
“That was the best she’s pitched this year,” King said. “She was consistently on and Jo and Jackie (Schnell) worked well together working the batters.
“They just seemed to know what pitches to throw in what situation to make it happen.”
Erin Loewen led off the game with a single, one of three hits on the night for Loewen, and scored to make the score 1-0.
That’s the way it remained until the fourth when Tabor exploded for nine runs on six hits.
Included in the barrage were singles by Schnell, Loewen and Porsche Davis, a double by April Funk, a triple by Davis and a home run by Love.
“We came out and hit aggressively and we didn’t make any errors in the second game,” King said. “We came out and just had fun.”
Sterling- The Bluejay lost a doubleheader to Sterling last week, 4-1 and 3-1.
Johannah Love took the loss in the opener, allowing just five hits while striking out four.
Tabor scratched out three hits off the bats of Porsche Davis, Jacqueline Schnell and Tamara McCarren.
In the second game, Holly Lindsay was the losing pitcher, allowing just four hits.
The Bluejays recorded four hits-one each from Erin Loewen, Davis, Schnell and Lindsay.
Coming-Tabor was scheduled to travel to McPherson Tuesday before hosting Kansas Wesleyan on Saturday beginning at 5 p.m.
