The Lady Tiger softball season got off to a fine start with an 8-3 win over University Heights Academy on Monday.
However, a poor fielding effort led to a late meltdown on Tuesday in a 13-4 setback to Hopkinsville.
Caldwell’s defense was mostly solid behind pitcher Mandy Gray in the opener against UHA.
Gray struck out 13, allowed just four singles and the Lady Tigers committed just two errors — neither of which affected the scoring.
Offensively, Caldwell built a 6-0 lead before seeing the visiting Lady Blazers score three times in the sixth inning to tighten things up.
Gray stopped UHA’s sixth inning rally with a pair of strikeouts, then struck out two more in the seventh to finish off the victory.
The Lady Tigers, meanwhile, took advantage of seven walks and a hit batter to go along with six base hits.
Caldwell’s first five runs were scored by batters who either walked or were hit.
Emily Meeks and Brittney Dearing each walked and scored in the second. A groundout by Jade Robinson accounted for the only RBI of the frame.
In the third, Danielle Flood walked, Hannah Riddle was hit by a pitch and Samm Jones walked. All three runners eventually scored on wild pitches or passed balls as Caldwell went up 5-0.
A two-out rally in the fifth produced another Lady Tiger run. Mandy Phelps’ single was followed by a triple into the left-field corner by Meeks, making it 6-0.
UHA used two walks and two singles to score its runs in the top of the sixth to close the gap to 6-3.
But Caldwell got two of those runs back in the bottom of the frame when Gray’s triple to the gap in right-center plated Riddle and Jones to make it 8-3.
The Lady Tigers also got off to a good start on Tuesday, jumping on Hopkinsville for a run in the bottom of the first.
Flood got things started when she drew a leadoff walk.
She stole second, was bunted to third by Gray, then scored on a Jones groundout to put Caldwell up 1-0.
Hopkinsville (2-0) countered with a pair of unearned runs in the top of the third to take the lead — the Lady Tigers making the first two of seven errors in the contest in that frame.
But Caldwell’s offense responded with two runs in the bottom of the third to regain the lead at 3-2.
A single by Flood was followed by back-to-back run-scoring doubles by Gray and Jones.
Hopkinsville tied things in the fourth when Callie Tackett doubled to start the inning and later scored.
Hoptown then strung together three hits in the fifth inning to take the lead at 4-3.
Caldwell drew even in the bottom of the fifth when Flood drew a leadoff walk, stole second and eventually scored on Riddle’s ground ball to first.
The game went to the seventh still tied at 4-4 before Hopkinsville exploded for nine runs to put the game out of reach. The visitors took advantage of three Caldwell errors along with some well-placed hits to put together their big inning.
“I thought we played really well on Monday and Mandy pitched a great game, but we struggled defensively today,” Caldwell head coach Layne Ramey noted after the setback. “For six innings we looked pretty good, but we kinda fell apart in the last inning.”
Tuesday’s game was originally slated to be played at Hopkinsville, but work on that school’s softball field moved the game to Lady Tiger Field in Princeton. Caldwell is now scheduled to visit Hopkinsville later in the year when the teams meet on May 13.
Caldwell’s girls will play at home again on Thursday when they host Livingston Central.
The Lady Tigers will go on the road for the first time on Friday when they visit Lyon County.
