CHS Softball gets shut out in back-to-back games
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Murphy beats Jackets, 11-0; Pinckneyville clobbers CHS, 9-0
By Jim Beers
Staff Writer
The Chester High School Lady Jackets went scoreless against Murphysboro, 11-0 and Pinckneyville, 9-0 in a pair of games last week.
Monday, May 3 the Lady Jackets recorded only one hit when Taylor Crum reached base on a base hit in the bottom of the first inning. She was stalled at first when Lauren Hoops and Ashley Andrews struck out to follow.
The rest of the game, Chester only reached base twice when Mollie Laramore reached base on an error in the bottom of the third inning and Taylor Gross walked in the bottom of the fourth. Otherwise the Jackets were taken down, "one-two-three" in all other batting series. Twelve Jackets struck out, one grounded out and two popped out to the catcher.
The Lady Red Devils scored one in the first, two in the third, five in the fourth and three in the fifth to beat the Jackets, 11-0. Murphy recorded six hits in the win. Chester pitchers also allowed six Red Devil batters to reach base on walks and two to reach base on past balls and one batter to reach base on an error.
With the offensive shut-out the Lady Yellow Jackets fell to 2-15 overall for the 2010 season. Murphysboro is a non-conference team so the Jackets remained at 0-9 in the SIRR Conference race.
Against Pinckneyville Chester lost, 9-0. The Lady Panthers held the Jackets to only one hit. Mollie Laramore reached first base on a hit in the fourth inning to lead off the frame. She stayed at first, however, as Ashley Andrews flew out to center field, Taylor Gross struck out and Megan Atchison popped out to the pitcher.
Offense was scarce for the Lady Jackets as ten batters struck out, seven batters popped or flew out and five grounded out. There was only one hit. There were 23 CHS batters who faced the Pinckneyville pitcher.
The Panthers struck early scoring four runs in the first inning. They struck again scoring three runs in the fifth and two more in the seventh. For the day CHS allowed nine runs on four hits, six errors, one walk and one batter hit by a pitch. Morgan Colvis struck out eight Panther batters and forced seven to pop up and three to ground out.
The loss brought Chester Softball to an overall record of 2-16 and a conference record of 0-10. Next up for CHS would be the 2010 Benton Softball Tournament Saturday, May 8.