Scoring opportunities were hard to come by Thursday for Allen Community College’s softball team in 8-0 and 2-0 home losses to visiting Johnson County to open Jayhawk Conference play.
The Red Devils had their chances, particularly in the 2-0 defeat, stranding runners in scoring position three times.
“We had some key moments where we could push a run across, that we didn’t necessarily do,” Allen head coach Nicole Peters said. “We get to play them twice more, so I’m hoping the next go-around, we can get the sweep.”
The second spoiled a strong pitching performance by ACC’s Skyler Jackson, who gave up seven hits over seven innings, with five strikeouts.
Johnson pushed its first run across on a wild pitch in the top of the fourth, and on a two-out double in the top of the seventh.
On the other side of the ledger, Mikayla Long singled to lead off the second, and made it to third on a pair of sacrifice bunts, but was stranded there with an inning-ending grounder.
Aubrey Willis and Haley Gedrose each singled in the third, but they were stranded as well.
Pinch hitter Chloe Rogers laced a two-out double in the sixth, but Johnson County wiggled out of the jam when Mikayla Long was out by an eyelash on her ground ball to short to end the frame.
Allen’s last chance was aided by an error in the bottom of the seventh, but Jaydee Pulliam’s line drive smash was snared by the Cavalier pitcher, who was able to toss to first to complete the double play.
“Skyler threw really well,” Peters said. “Everything was working. It’s a tough loss, but it’s definitely great for us to have.”
A rough start in the opener put ACC in a quick hole. Johnson County put together five hits and were aided by an error in jumping out to a 6-0 lead.
Allen starter Madelynn Collins settled down nicely from there, giving up four hits the rest of the way. A two-out error and wild pitch in the sixth added two more JCCC runs.
Lacey Stamper smacked a one-out double for Allen in the fourth, but she was stranded there.
The Red Devils also put a pair of runners on base in the sixth via an error and a walk, but a ground out ended the threat.
“We’ve got to eliminate that one bad inning,” Peters said. “We did that in the second game, and it was pretty even across the board.”
The Red Devils are back in action today (Saturday) at Independence, and return home Thursday against Fort Scott.
