SOFTBALL: Mistakes cost Lady Panthers vs. Nashville
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Eight errors on defense led to Pinckneyville's second loss in as many games on Tuesday, when Nashville came from down 3-0 to knock off the Lady Panthers 5-3.
"You make eight errors, you're not going to win many games," said PCHS head softball coach Mike Cheek. "We had plays we should have made and we didn't make them."
Mo Ramsey's RBI single in the bottom of the second inning put the Panthers on top 3-0, but their bats were quieted by Hornettes starter Shaye Harre from that point on. Harre went the distance allowing a pair of earned runs on eight hits, struck out four and walked none.
An error led to Nashville's first run in the fourth inning, then another miscue put another tally on the board for the visitors in the fifth.
Emily Chapman walked Kaley Pelker to lead off the sixth, then Nicole Deering singled to chase Chapman from the game. Sara Malanowski relieved, working two solid innings (1 ER, 2 H, 3K, 1 BB), but couldn't get out of the jam before three runs crossed the plate and the Hornettes were up by two.
Pinckneyville went three up and three down in the bottom of the sixth, then Chapman and Taylor Cicardi fanned with two runners on in the seventh to end the game.
"I don't want to take anything away from their pitcher, she pitched us where she should have pitched us," Cheek said, "but we did a poor job at the plate of taking the ball where it should have been taken."
PCHS wasted a 3-for-4 effort at the plate by Maddy Keith, who also scored a run. Shersty Stanton also had a multi-hit game going 2-for-3 with a run scored. Ramsey (1-4, RBI), Cicardi (1-4, 3B), and Taylor Kuhnert (1-2, R, SAC) also had hits.
Chapman took the loss allowing two earned runs on four hits, four walks while recording three strikeouts.
Pinckneyville hits the road on Friday to face Du Quoin, still unbeaten at 10-0 as of Wednesday morning.
"Everybody (in the Mississippi Division) is going to be pretty good," Cheek said. "(Du Quoin) is going to hit the ball well, they're very good athletes, their pitching has improved. If we don't play any better than we did today, we'll take another loss."