Lady Cubs fall in high-scoring affair

OLNEY— Olney Lady Cubs fans may have thought an eight-run first inning was enough to put away Bryson, but they were wrong.

 The 28-11 final score seemed something more akin to that of a football game or a little league basketball game, but Olney coach Mark McCorkle said it is not uncommon when two high-scoring offenses get together.

“Both teams hit the ball,” McCorkle said. “We made some defensive mistakes that got us out of some innings, but we take a player and they don’t call her out and a few calls here and there could have made a difference, but basically we didn’t throw strikes and they took advantage.”

The Cubs jumped out to an 8-1 lead two-RBI singles by juniors Hayley Ondricek and Shea Sallee as well as a  two-RBI singles from senior Geri Heath and another RBI single by junior La’Anna Golden had the Lady Cubs primed to best Bryson, who defeated the Lady Cubs 11-5 a week ago. Akin to last week’s performance, the Cowgirls’ bats came alive and they added seven runs in the second inning, then added 21 more while in route to victory Tuesday.

McCorkle believes playing elite teams like Bryson allows his team to experience tough situations and prevents building a false sense of confidence by tallying wins against lesser talented teams.

“It helps you. You have to play good teams to get better,” McCorkle said. “This is a game where we will learn from our mistakes. We have to keep hitting the ball. We can’t score eight runs in the first inning, do nothing in the next few innings and expect to win.”

McCorkle maintained his stance that his team is in an experimental phase, but that phase will soon end with the Lady Cubs opening district play Tuesday with a game against Windthorst.

“Our offense is getting better. We hit the ball hard all the way through the program,” McCorkle said. “Our pitchers are doing a great job, but our strength is our offense and it keeps getting better.”