Jeeps rally past Lady Vikes
Apr. 17—MONTGOMERY — The Barr-Reeve Lady Vikings weren't quite able to put the Jeeps in park on Tuesday in Montgomery with a 6-2 loss to Northeast Dubois.
Although B-R held a 2-1 lead going into the seventh inning, a late Jeep rally was enough to secure the Blue Chip conference win.
B-R got a solid effort on the mound from senior Karlye Graber, but five errors provided just enough room for Dubois to find a way to win.
"We've had a few spots like this this season. We're definitely working on cleaning some stuff up. We're not playing our best softball at this time of the year. We have a lot of improvements to do. I know we'll get there. We've just got some work we got to get done," said B-R coach Josh Huff.
"We've got to take it day-by-day. At this point, we've got to improve and we've got to get better. We definitely need to bring down the errors. We've got six young underclassmen on the field at this point in time. There's some learning that is taking place, there's absolutely no doubt. There's some throws that we're making that we shouldn't be making at times."
Pitching was the key in the first, as Graber struck out two out the first three she face, but Dubois hurler Averi Bauer was just as effective with a quick 1-2-3 inning of her own. Graber continued with two more Ks in the second, but the game did have its first base runner in the bottom of the second, after Addison Jones reached on an error but was stranded on second.
The Lady Jeeps looked like they were about to do some damage in the third with a pair of singles and an error that scored a run. However, Graber got the next three batters and stranded two runners on base, while getting a pair of stellar defensive plays from Kennedy Huff and Lucy Wirtz.
The Vikes were able to make some noise in the bottom of the third with two outs. Syd Wilson singled, followed by a walk to Ava Carter and Willow Thompson was hit to load the bases. After two wild pitches, B-R had a 2-1 and a questionable call at first could have made it 3-1, but didn't.
B-R picked up a hits in the bottom of the fourth but did not score. Two errors helped load the base for the Jeeps in the top of the fifth again, but Graber was able to work her way out of the jam and the game remained 2-1. Graber faced just four hitters in the sixth, while Bauer retired the Vikes in order, sending the game in to the seventh.
A base hit and an error put Jeeps on second and third with just one out, when Bauer scored to tie at 2-all. NED then got the go-ahead run plus two more on the third single and second throwing error of the inning to make it 5-2. The Jeeps added one more run to make it 6-2 and force Barr-Reeve into their final three outs, which NED got in order.
