MORAN — The Marmaton Valley High softball team was dealt a pair of setbacks at home against Oswego Thursday.
Defensive mistakes hurt the Wildcats the most after serving up a combined 32 runs through two games in losses with final scores of 18-12 and 20-1.
Game one
If it wasn’t for the fifth inning, the Wildcats may have had a chance at pulling out a win. Marmaton Valley’s defense surrendered nine runs in the inning, giving the Oswego lineup a good batting practice.
The Wildcats got in front early when Brooklyn Adams doubled and scored on a Payton Scharff triple. The next three MV batters, Braelyn Sutton, Scharff and Tayven Sutton each scored in the bottom of the first for the 4-2 lead.
Shelby Sprague then sparked a second inning spree which saw the Wildcats plate four more runs and take an 8-2 lead heading to the third. Sprague walked, Bailey LaRue was hit by a pitch, Scharff singled and Sutton tripled before they all scored.
The hardest part of the loss to swallow for Marmaton Valley was they held a 10-2 lead in the fourth inning before Oswego unloaded for 10 take a 12-10 lead. Marmaton Valley then responded with two runs in the bottom of the fifth to make it 12-12.
That was all Marmaton Valley would score while Oswego brought six more runs across in the next three innings. Oswego tallied a total of 14 hits led by Abby Strickland’s five hits.
Tayven Sutton started at pitcher for Marmaton Valley and was relieved by Gabby Briggs.
Game two
When game two came around, the Wildcats were out of steam.
Payton Scharff started in the pitching circle for Marmaton Valley and was hurt by her defense making errors and allowing Oswego runners to advance with ease. Oswego scored 14 runs in the first inning, four runs in the second inning and two runs in the third.
“Payton did a great job tonight throwing. But our fielding was just off. We weren’t making plays we normally can make, along with girls not playing in their regular positions,” said Marmaton Valley head coach Brenda Mills. “We will continue to work on fundamentals as our team has several inexperienced players.”
Scharff allowed 12 hits and four walks in the first inning and she punched out two in the first. In the second inning, Scharff allowed four runs to score on three hits and two walks.
Marmaton Valley came around to score in the bottom of the second inning when Mary Brown walked and later scored on an Adams RBI single for the 18-1 deficit.
