Dan River softball smacked as errors abound

RINGGOLD — It took the Dan River Wildcats until the end of the season and the district tournament last year to finally get over their error-prone ways. And while the Wildcats hope it won’t take nearly as long this season, Wednesday was certainly not a step in the right direction.

Dan River committed six errors, five of which led to Appomattox runs, and the Wildcats fell to the Raiders 11-1. Appomattox pitcher Haley Lawson allowed three hits over seven innings while striking out nine and the Raiders (2-1, 1-1 Dogwood) exploded offensively with 15 hits. But in the end it was the errors that hurt Dan River the most. One error led to another, and then another and another — each one weighing a little heavier than the last on the minds of the Wildcats.

“It’s like we get one and we all get down, and it’s just hard to come back,” Dan River third baseman Jessica Bevins said. “Hopefully, by the time the district tournament rolls around, they’ll be out the window. Eventually we’ll learn to get past it, shake it off and move on.”

Eventually, perhaps. But that goal may seem a little further off after Wednesday. And it had all started off so well, too.

After surviving an Appomattox scare in the top of the first, the Wildcats (1-4, 0-2 Dogwood) got right to the business of manufacturing some offense in the home half of the inning.

Gwen Turner took a walk to start off the first for Dan River and the Wildcats followed that with a textbook bunt down the first base line from Bevins to start a scoring threat of their own.

“Oh, that was beautiful,” Bevins said. “When they roll and just stop, you can’t ask for more. Especially when it’s down a line.”

Another walk later in the inning loaded the bases for Dan River and with two outs on the board, Turner scored on a passed ball for an early 1-0 Wildcats lead.

But it was all downhill from there for Dan River.

“It took us a while to get adjusted to the pitching,” Appomattox coach Gary Ferguson said. “But once we did, we put some things together and put some runs together.”

That is a bit of an understatement.

The Raiders came to life in the second inning by scoring a pair of runs — one of which was let in on a fielding error, while the other was allowed on base by that same error — and Appomattox was on its way.

The Raiders scored one run in each of the next three innings, including a solo home run by Christen Campbell in the sixth, before busting the game wide open with six runs in the top of the seventh — a half inning that saw Dan River players commit four errors.

The Wildcats can only hope the worst is past.

“Well, it was right rough,” Dan River coach Melanie Gilbert said. “Especially coming off a good game yesterday and into this. It was ugly.

“We have been making errors this year, and costly ones. I’m hoping this game was just a bad one — a blunder. Now’s the time to get them out if they’re going to make them.”