By JEREMY SHORT
TAHLEQUAH DAILY PRESS — The Tahlequah slowpitch softball team kicked off its season Monday with a 3-2 victory over Jay at home.
Both of the Bulldogs runs came off of Lady Tigers errors.
“The two runs they scored were off of errors,” said Lady Tigers coach Ronnie Rogers. “We can’t afford to do that.”
Senior third baseman Paige Crow led the way for Tahlequah (1-0) going 2-2 from the plate with two doubles and an RBI.
“She was about the only one who hit the ball consistently,” said Rogers. “The rest got one here or there.”
Krystal Herrin and Shelby Sanders added an RBI each for the Lady Tigers.
“What we’re trying to do is get consistency,” said Rogers. “Hopefully with more playing time we can put hits together and score more runs.”
Jay (2-1) took the lead in the top of the first inning when Sam Roberts, who reached base on an error, scored on a Megan Edge sacrifice fly.
Lady Tigers pitcher Angelea Dry retired the last batter of the inning to get Tahlequah out trailing by just one run.
Freshman leadoff hitter Jenna Reed got Tahlequah going in the bottom of the first inning with a double.
After an Ashley Fisher groundout advanced Reed to third.
Herrin hit an RBI single to score Reed and tie the game at 1-to-1.
Crow then scored Herrin on a sharply hit RBI double to give Tahlequah the lead 2-to-1 with just one out.
Katie Atkins and Dry were then retired to end the inning.
The Lady Tigers struck again in the second inning. Katie Bowin gave Tahlequah a chance with a two-out double, then Sanders followed with an RBI single to score Bowin.
Sanders was thrown out trying to advance to second base.
Jay got back within one run in the third when Kaitlin Allen, who reached on an error, scored on a two-out Sam Roberts RBI double.
In the fourth, Dry and the Lady Tigers got in trouble again after three of the first four batters reached base to give the Bulldogs the bases loaded with just one out.
Dry got Tahlequah out of the jam by inducing a shallow fly ball out and groundout to end the inning with the lead still at one run.
Dry allowed just one batter to reach base the remainder of the game as the Tigers held on for the slim 3-2 victory.
“We only had five or six hits,” said Rogers. “You can’t have that many and beat the good people.”
The Lady Tigers were supposed to play two more games this week against Stilwell and Hilldale, but both games have been rescheduled for various reasons.
That makes the next Tahlequah game March 23 at Oktaha.
