After winning six of their last seven games, the Colusa softball team cooled off last week dropping a pair of Sacramento Valley League games 9-0 and 4-2 to a surging Willows Honkers squad.
In Willows on April 19, the RedHawks could muster only one hit, a single off the bat of Abby Myers, as they were shutout by the Honkers.
However, returning home on April 22, Colusa put up a good fight, but fell short as two unearned runs proved to be the difference in the game.
Things looked promising for the RedHawks in the fourth inning, when Ava Garcia drew a leadoff walk, and Myers got aboard as well, after recording Colusa’s first hit of the game.
A ground out by Abby Wolf knocked in Garcia, who had taken third on Myers’ hit, and brought Anahi Guzman to the plate.
Guzman took advantage of the 3-1 count and laced an RBI double to center, bringing Myers around to score.
Unfortunately for Colusa, it would be the only two runs of the game, as they struggled to execute the small ball game plan against Willows’ pitcher Emily Thurman, who booked 11 RedHawk batters.
In the circle, Avery Lay suffered the hard-luck loss, scattering five hits, striking out four, and yielding just two earned runs.
Lay pitched well and showed notable poise in the first inning as she limited the damage to one run, overcoming two errors, and working out of a bases-loaded jam.
Things only got tougher for Colusa (9-10, 6-4) this week as they traveled to Trowbridge on Tuesday to take on the SVL’s first place team, East Nicolaus, before returning home to round out the series with the Spartans today.■
