Missed opportunities costly in Bobcats OVAC semifinal loss

Kevin Sutton, Cambridge Daily Jeffersonian

ELM GROVE, W.Va. − Missed opportunities were a huge obstacle for the Cambridge High softball team during Wednesday's Ohio Valley Athletic Conference 4A semifinal match up with No. 1 seed Indian Creek at the J.B. Chambers I-470 Complex.

Get'em on, Get'em over and Get'em in ... is the objective nearly all high school softball coaches strive to accomplish.

Cambridge was successful with the first two parts with 10 hits and plenty of runners in scoring position.

More: The weather stayed away and many area athletes shined for this week's Athlete of the Week polls

More: Softball roundup: Sheridan and Morgan got the sweeps they needed on Tuesday.

But, the Get'em in portion is where the third-seeded Bobcats struggled, stranding a whopping total of 13 baserunners.

Cambridge's Bailey Kenworthy watches a ball pass by beyond the outside corner of the plate. Kenworthy finished 3-for-4 with a trio of base hits, nearly a third of the Bobcats' hit production.
Cambridge's Bailey Kenworthy watches a ball pass by beyond the outside corner of the plate. Kenworthy finished 3-for-4 with a trio of base hits, nearly a third of the Bobcats' hit production.

The Bobcats had base runners in every inning, stranded seven runners in scoring position and loaded the bases without scoring in both the third and fifth innings.

That statistic proved just to much to overcome, resulting an 8-0 setback to the Redskins.

"There are a lot of elements to this game, No. 1 is to be strong in the pitcher's circle and we got the tonight again with Abby giving us another great effort," CHS veteran head coach Bob Shepard said. "But unfortunately, when we got into situations set up to score, we just did not get that done today."

Despite disappointing loss, bright spots for Bobcats

Cambridge slips to 11-4 on the season with the loss, but Shepard pointed to several positives for his Bobcats' squad.

"I'm real proud of what the girls did to get here," Shepard added. "It's the first time for this group to get down here, so it was a good experience for them. We like to use this tournament as a prelim to sectionals, because its a similar atmosphere down here. Proud of the way the kids played, that was a strong 14 win team we went up against tonight."

Cambridge First baseman Laney Harper looks to flip the ball to first after fielding a bunt attempt.
Cambridge First baseman Laney Harper looks to flip the ball to first after fielding a bunt attempt.

"If you can learn from a loss against a good team, it can be a good thing," Shepard continued. "I'm confident that is what we will do with this one tonight. There is still a good bit of softball to play yet this season, and we have done a good job regrouping from losses. And expect that trend to continue for this group."

Senior Abby Mann suffered the loss in the circle for the Bobcats, finishing with 13 strikeouts and only gave up four hits, but she walked eight batters. Cambridge was guilty of some shaky defense as well, with a total of six errors in the game that led to six unearned runs as well.

Cambridge outhit Indian Creek by a 10-4 margin in the game, but the Redskins took the all important runs category and will advance to the OVAC 4A championship game.

Cambridge's Paige Lagneaux comes over to cover first and holds onto the ball as a Creek runner is called out.
Cambridge's Paige Lagneaux comes over to cover first and holds onto the ball as a Creek runner is called out.

Junior Bailey Kenworthy collected three base hits for Cambridge, with Mel Ruiz banging out a pair of singles. Sophomore Ebanie Ruiz had the only Cambridge extra base hit with a sixth inning double. Senior Jazz Bell, Mann and sophomore Abby Roth each singled.

KSutton1@gannett.com; X: @KSuttonDJSports; Instagram: kevinsutton_dailyjeffsports

This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Cambridge comes up short in bid for spot in OVAC 4A title game

Advertisement