Needing a Saturday sweep

Corrinne Henderson squeezes the force out at third on a throw from center fielder Brianna Nelson. PHOTOS BY BRAIN BESCH

By Brian Besch
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Livingston softball’s first playoff game in years Friday would be one to forget, dropping an 11-1 decision in six innings to Little Cypress-Mauriceville in Cleveland.

The game puts the Lady Lions behind, needing two wins Saturday to advance to the area round.

“(Little Cypress-Mauriceville) has been here before and they are gamers,” Livingston coach Heather Mosser said. “I really thought we were going to have a chance tonight, so we will have to bring it back tomorrow. It is exactly what I told the team, everything kind of fell their way. Every time they hit a ball it went 18 feet in the air and we had no way of getting a glove on it. There is not a ton we could do. Their home runs were good hits, but outside of that, everything was a home run or a dinker. That kind of beats you down over and over again. It’s a little frustrating, but hopefully things will fall our way tomorrow.”

A pair of singles and a double gave Little Cypress a 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the first. With two runners in scoring position and only one out, pitcher Jaycee Knighton struck out two to work out of the jam.

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In the bottom of the second, a double, bunt single and walk had runners on every bag with one out. Knighton did not receive a call near the zone for strike three, and the next pitch was deposited over the center field wall for a grand slam and 5-0 lead. LC-M worked a few more walks and drove in another run before a tag out at home plate ended the inning at 6-0.

Brianna Nelson doubled and Allison Lytle followed with the same in the third inning to drive in the only Lady Lion run of the game.

Lytle would relieve Knighton and throw three scoreless innings of relief, keeping the Lady Lions in it until the sixth inning. However, a walk and base hit in the sixth had Lady Bears on the bases again. A triple to the wall and single made it 9-1 Little Cypress-Mauriceville. With a runner on, a two-run homer over the large left-field wall ended the game at 11-1 in six innings. 

“We just have to keep our heads up and keep playing,” Mosser said. “We still have a chance and we have gotten behind all season long at times and still found ways to recover. We have that opportunity here and we have to win two games tomorrow. We still had positive things. When we were able to make plays, we played hard. We have to score too. Our bats have been quiet, so we have to figure that out.

“Jaycee is my best pitcher, she just wasn’t getting calls. (The umpire) didn’t like her zone and she didn’t throw to his. Lytle definitely did a great job for us. If we get some bats on the ball, it really doesn’t matter who I put on the mound. That is going to be the difference, we have to hit.”