HASTINGS — The NE. Flames Tournament in Hastings draws an elite field, so you better come to play with your ‘A’ game in tact.
Such was not the case for the York State Bank 18-U Golden Eagles on Saturday as they faced a tough field, and saw the right side number on their record change three times throughout the course of the day.
York was throttled in their two opening games, as they lost to the Columbus Pinnacle Bank Bullets 11-0 in six innings, and also dropped an 11-1 decision in four innings to the Red Cloud 18-U.
Their third contest of the day was the most competitive as they lost a 4-2 battle to the Lincoln Rockets, but they were their own worst enemy being charged with five errors, and allowing three unearned runs.
After their 11-1 loss to Red Cloud, head coach Laureen Powell pulled the girls aside and told them the season starts now. “I told them that we are starting over and our record is 0-0, we are just going to forget about the first part of the year,” she said. “We are not playing Golden Eagles softball right now.”
York took on the Lincoln Rockets in their final game of the day, and hoped to get things turned around, but two errors in the bottom of the second led to two unearned runs, and a 2-0 deficit.
On the hill Melanie Baker was keeping the Rockets off balance, but the York offense continued to struggle as Rockets starter Amanda Beeson did not allow a hit until Jackie Ziemke singled to open the fourth.
The Lincoln team scored two more times in the fifth to open a 4-0 lead, as Maggie Whiteley and Mercedes Hauser both collected RBI singles.
The YSB Golden Eagles opened the sixth with a single from Kasey Romohr, and after Ziemke was hit by a pitch with one out, a fielders choice moved both runners into scoring position. The Golden Eagles cut the lead in half at 4-2 when Baker helped her own cause with a two run single, but Beeson’s 11th KO of the game ended the contest as time expired.
Lincoln out hit the York girls five to four, but York’s five errors were the biggest difference in the game.
In the Golden Eagles first game Saturday, starter Madison McLean trailed 2-0 through four frames, but Columbus P.B. scored five times in the fifth and four more times in the sixth to pull away for the 11-0 shutout. The Bullets Becky Seidel was 3-4 at the plate, hit a fifth inning HR, and drove in four runs. Two of the Golden Eagles three hits came off the bat of Michaela Ocken, while the other safety was a line drive single from Krista Peterson. The Bullets finished with 12 hits.
It didn’t take long for Red Cloud to take advantage of York’s misplays in the field in game two, as they scored seven runs in the first two frames, six of those unearned on four York errors.
The only run of the game for the Golden Eagles came in the bottom of the third when Ocken singled and scoored on a two-out single off the bat of Ziemke.
Red Cloud pounded York pitching for 10 hits in four innings, while the Golden Eagles finished with three.
The Golden Eagles were in action in Hastings again Sunday morning against the Geneva Tire Sluggers, but overnight rains delayed the start of the tournament by 4-hours.
York (2-6) will host Crete tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Miller Park in DH action.