Two games, one bad inning in each, and two losses — early season softball has not been kind thus far to Metea Valley.
The Mustangs lost 10-3 to visiting Elk Grove on Saturday, punctuated by a five-run second inning from the Grenadiers that put Metea in catchup mode the rest of the way. Metea gave up four runs in the first inning of a loss to Plainfield North on Monday.
“We’re a younger team and we’re just getting into the season, but this game was better than the last one and the next one will be better than this,” Metea Valley pitcher Elise Titiner said. “We’ll get into the groove of it. I have faith in us.”
Elk Grove (4-2) earned an 11-5 edge in hits against Metea Valley (0-2) for starting pitcher Sabra Morton.
“She’s a young pitcher and that was her first complete game, and she’s been very effective for us,” Elk Grove coach Ken Grams. “And we’ve been fine with the bats in our hands. We’ve been able to score runs.”
Metea got infield hits from Megan Arciver and Kara Leckinger and loaded the bases in the first inning, but Morton got a strikeout to end the threat.
Elk Grove got a three-RBI double from Melissa Picchi and a two-run triple from Brianna Leach to give the Grens their 5-0 lead, but sloppy fielding by the Mustangs helped set up Elk Grove’s big inning.
“Elise will be the (pitcher) we lean on all season and I don’t think she pitched bad,” Metea Valley coach Kris Kalivas said. “When you give a team six outs in an inning, bad things will happen. Take away that one inning and we still lose but it’s a 5-3 ballgame instead of a 10-3 ballgame.”
Elk Grove took an 8-0 lead in the fourth before Metea got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning.
The Mustangs’ Monica Jauch walked, Katie Kennedy singled, and both scored on a dropped fly ball in left field with two outs.
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Elk Grove struck for two more runs in the fifth and Metea scored the game’s final run in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI single by Emma Zenkel.
“We made better contact today but we’re still looking for that big hit when we need it,” Kalivas said. “We’re coming along but I’d like to see it move a little faster. We’d like to see our bats come alive a little bit in the middle of the order and get that key hit when we need to.”
Titiner struck out five and walked two in a steady performance and believes the Grenadiers had an intangible edge over her Mustangs on Saturday as well.
“The fact that (Elk Grove) stayed up the whole game helped them,” Titiner said. “You have to stay up because that’s what’s going to keep a team up.
“We have to keep our heads up the whole game and stay positive. It’s harder than you’d think but you just have to keep reminding everyone to keep talking, and to trust that everyone will do their part.”
Gary Larsen is a freelance reporter.