The offensive struggles continued for Ketchikan High School on Thursday at home in a shutout loss to Juneau-Douglas High School.
A triple by Kayhi senior Leesa Murphy and two two-out singles by fellow seniors Kayla Schaffer and Kaylee Smith were the only blemishes on Juneau-Douglas pitcher Quincy Bates’ pitching stat line. Two-thirds of the 21 outs recorded in the Crimson Bears’ 7-0 win came by strikeout or groundout.
“In these past couple of games, we’ve been having the same kind of problem,” Kayhi senior Kaileigh Krosse said. “There is this trepidation that is leading up to it. We all know we have success when we hit the ball on the ground, it’s just a matter of finding the holes and starting to figure it out.”
Bates struck out six batters in her complete-game shutout.
“Her drop ball was working pretty good tonight,” Juneau-Douglas head coach Dave Massey said of Bates.
The Lady Kings have been outscored 20-3 and outhit 22-11 in three conference games with the Crimson Bears this season.
Murphy, the Kings’ starting pitcher, kept the Juneau-Douglas bats quiet through the first two innings, striking out three batters and allowing no hits.
A two-RBI double by Morgan Balovich and an error by Smith led to three runs for Juneau-Douglas in the top of the third. Two walks and a hit batter came before the RBI double.
“We were able to keep their big sticks quiet tonight but they had kids step up,” Kayhi head coach Scott Smith said. “They hit the ball where we weren’t and a majority of those runs were put on by walks.”
Balovich hit a double, a single and had two RBI to lead the Juneau-Douglas offense. Leadoff hitter Sami Good drew two walks, hit one single and scored two runs.
Two well-placed singles by Juneau-Douglas’ Abby Meiners and Bates drove in two more runs in the sixth and a fielder’s choice put the seventh run on the board for the Lady Crimson Bears.
“Some of them were maybe a little lucky,” Massey said. “Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t. You just have to take the good along with the bad.”
“The game as a way of snowballing on you,” Kayhi coach Smith said. “Sometimes a lot of things go your way at once when you’re playing well and it went their way tonight.”
