After beginning last week with a 12-1 district victory at McAlester, runs were tough to come by for the Durant High softball team in three losses to powerful Class 5A and 6A opponents.
The Lady Lions are slated for another major challenge in the Bixby Festival this weekend as they work to prepare for the upcoming Class 5A playoffs on the road.
Durant raced to the early lead to topple rival McAlester behind a no-hit pitching performance from Emma Sherrer, who yielded one run with four strikeouts and a pair of walks.
Coach Jimmie Wyrick’s unit opened the scoring with a pair of tallies in the top half of the first frame after Kaitlen Rush and Anslee Morse began the game with singles. A two-out error by the Lady Buffaloes allowed both to come around and score.
McAlester got one run back in its half of the stanza thanks to a walk, stolen base, passed ball and ground out but Sherrer settled in from there to work virtually unscathed the rest of the way in the five-inning run rule decision.
The Lady Lions sent 11 batters to the plate in the second inning and plated seven to completely put the contest out of reach.
A walk and singles from Kenzee Petty and Rush ignited the flurry and Morse doubled in two runs. Two outs later, Dasia Lewis singled home another tally. Kenzie Trotter was hit by a pitch, Brynn Ritenour doubled in a run and Ibarra chipped in a single to tag on two more for a commanding 9-1 edge.
Rush tripled and scored to begin the third inning with Korbyn Robinson and Trotter slicing together hits as well to tack on another run.
Durant finished with 12 hits, three of which came off the bat of Rush. Morse posted two and drove in a pair while Trotter contributed two hits and one RBI. Robinson, Lewis, Ritenour, Mia Ibarra and Petty all notched one hit.
In a 4-1 loss at Coweta, the Lady Lions struggled to just four hits. Three of those came on consecutive two-out singles by Robinson, Lewis and Trotter in the seventh inning for their only run of the game.
They picked up three hits and were hurt by five errors in an 8-1 defeat at the hands of Class 6A Sand Springs. Sherrer had a double with singles from Trotter and Lewis, who drove in the lone run.
Durant had three hits again in a 10-1 setback facing powerhouse Carl Albert as they were slowed by defensive miscues. Morse, Lewis and Ibarra contributed singles.
