By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

GREENVILLE — The Lady Wave softball team lost their first conference game at home on April 1 to Butler, 5-6, in extra innings.

Head coach Jerrod Newland said while Butler is a great team and was the better team in this game, it was a disappointing game to drop. The team had their chances to win the game, but couldn’t come up with a game-winning play.

“They wanted it more, they played better than us. Bottom line, you can’t leave kids on base. In the last two innings, we get two on and left four on base. In the last two innings, we had a chance to win it,” Newland said.

Butler got the scoring started in the second inning on a two-run home run by senior Ava Cyphers.

But the Lady Wave came back in the bottom of the third inning and put up four runs. Junior Kylar Arnett drove in a run on a single. Senior Mahayla Cook put a ball in play to help drive in two more runs. Senior Addie Burke hit a RBI double to make it a 4-2 game.

The Lady Aviators regained the lead in the fifth inning. Sophomore Kaylee Worrell hit a RBI double. Senior Kylee Kleiner followed it up with a two-run home run to take a 5-4 lead.

Newland said the team didn’t make enough plays early and gave Butler extra outs. Butler capitalized on those errors and scored some runs.

“You can’t score in two innings and win games. We were just very sloppy today. Didn’t make some plays,” Newland said.

The defense wasn’t consistent, but did make some plays to stay in the game. Arnett and senior Savannah Leach made some critical plays to get base runners out.

Leach had an inning where she got three outs herself. After a lead off single in the sixth inning, she turned an unassisted double play and got the third out on a ground out.

Leach got it done offensively as well. She had a double in the fifth inning and eventually scored on a wild pitch to tie the game, 5-5.

Greenville got a late rally going in the seventh inning. With two outs, they got two base runners on but couldn’t get the winning run across.

Butler stepped up in the eighth inning and sophomore Jami Brockert put one in play to drive in the eventual game-winning run.

Down 5-6, Greenville once again got two base runners on with two outs. Newland said they were able to get into scoring situations, but couldn’t get the timely hit needed to score them.

Both teams gave each other extra outs, but Butler was able to overcome their mistakes to pick up a road win.

Junior Zoey Burns pitched all eight innings and had four strikeouts. For Butler, junior Addison Suess pitched all eight innings and only had two strikeouts. Both defenses had to work to get outs.

Greenville is 4-2 on the season with a 2-1 MVL record. They will next take on Stebbins on April 3 at home with first pitch scheduled for 5 p.m.

They will then have their chance to split the season series with Butler on April 4 at Butler. First pitch is set for 5 p.m.

“Good win for them, great team win. Thank goodness we get to play them twice. We’ll head to Butler here hopefully Thursday and see where we’re at,” Newland said.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]