Blazers come up short against Cougars

Two of the Golden Empire League's top pitchers locked horns Thursday afternoon as Lindhurst High welcomed Capital Christian into town for the first meeting this season between the rival schools.

And with Lindhurst ace Jordan Stanaland and the Cougars' Shelby Gill keeping opponent's bats at bay for full seven innings, runs were hard to come by as expected.

Unfortunately for the Blazers, four fielding errors and a couple of mental blunders were the difference as Capital Christian scored two unearned runs in the game to hand Lindhurst a 4-2 setback.

"These teams match up well and Jordan pitched well, we just made too many bone-headed mistakes," Lindhurst coach Bill Biggs said. "We can't make those kind of mental mistakes, and today, the unearned runs is what did it."

After a Lindhurst throwing error allowed the Cougars to plate their first unearned run in the top of the first inning, the Blazers rallied back to take the lead in the bottom of the third.

Senior catcher Dylanne Brown led off the frame by ripping a double into the gap in left-center and moved over to third on back-to-back singles by Morgan Thome and Stanaland.

Freshman Shawna Hulsey got the Blazers (6-3, 1-1) on the board with a perfectly placed sacrifice bunt to score Brown, and when a Jennifer Rodriguez line drive was misplayed by the Cougars, Stanaland raced home to give Lindhurst a 2-1 advantage.

However a hit batter, a single and an error — each coming with two outs — allowed Capital Christian to tie the game in the fourth. And when the Cougars finally got to Stanaland to slap four hits the following inning, Capital Christian scraped together two more runs and took the lead for good.

The remainder of the contest belonged to Gill, who limited the Blazers to just six hits on the afternoon while striking out 14 in a winning effort.

"Our pitcher was better today than she's been all year," said Capital Christian coach Bob Willis, who knew that runs would be scarce against Stanaland. "Jordan is consistently strong, so it's a rivalry game every time we play them. Her presence alone makes them a tough team to beat, and I can't say enough about her grit and determination." Brown went 3-for-4 with the double and Stanaland was 2-for-4 to lead the Blazers offensively. The four-year starter allowed six hits and two earned runs while striking out seven to suffer the hard-luck loss.

"This is probably the strongest team I've had and they have a chance to do anything in this league," said Biggs, who pointed to two games each against Capital Christian, Golden Sierra and Marysville as his team's biggest of the season. "We need to get it together a little more, but we'll get there."