Jaiden Hutchins of MHS singles against Hilliard Bradley. Hutchins also hit a solo homer during an 8-1 loss.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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At best, the weather on Wednesday was questionable when Marysville’s varsity softball team fell to Hilliard Bradley, 8-1.
At worst, it was downright lousy with a cold temperature and off-and-on rain.
MHS head coach Jennifer Segner-Maxwell, however, didn’t blame Mother Nature for her team’s problems.
“The conditions were the same for both teams,” she said. “The weather had nothing to do with it.”
A porous defense and limited offense, though, were big reasons why the Lady Monarchs lost for the fifth time in seven games early in the season.
MHS committed six fielding miscues and managed just three hits against Jaguar pitcher Jillian Meszaros.
Marysville was charged with a pair of errors which helped Bradley take a 2-0 lead in the opening inning.
The Lady Monarchs responded with their lone run in the bottom of the second.
With one down, freshman Jaiden Hutchins blasted a homer over the center field fence.
Other than that, Marysville had a rather anemic showing with the sticks.
MHS starting pitcher Josie Bumgarner, however, kept the Jags off the scoreboard during the second-through-fourth innings.
She ran into trouble during the visitors’ portion of the fifth.
With one down, back-to-back Bradley batters reached base on close plays at the bag.
Bumgarner notched a strikeout and stood just one out away from getting out of a jam.
Hilliard’s Andrea Day singled to give the Jags a 3-1 lead.
The visitors jumped out to a 5-1 advantage after a couple of MHS errors.
Mickey Moody’s base hit then gave the Jaguars a 6-1 margin.
At that point, Brooklyn Gamby came in to pitch for the Lady Monarchs.
She coaxed a line drive out to prevent further damage.
Marysville batters went down without too much trouble over their final three at-bats.
Bradley tacked on one insurance score in both the sixth and seventh innings.
Bumgarner was tagged with the loss. She allowed five hits and struck out one during 4 2/3 innings of work.
Gamby yielded four hits and walked two during her 2 1/3 innings in the circle.
Hutchins had two of MHS’ three hits.
“We’ve got to clean up our defense,” said Segner-Maxwell. “There are no bad teams in the Central District and we can’t give teams extra outs like we did tonight.
“We also didn’t see the ball well at the plate.”
HB 200 041 1-8 9 0
MHS 010 000 0-1 3 6
WP: Meszaros
LP: Bumgarner
Marysville’s jayvees dropped a 14-10 verdict on Hilliard Bradley’s diamond.
Kylie Levings was the losing pitcher.
The Monarch offense was led by Abigail Bryant and Savannah Jenkins. They both tallied three hits.
Lilly McKinney chipped in with two.
The Lady Monarchs are scheduled to host Columbus Bishop Watterson this afternoon.