A handful of crooked number innings given up doomed the Washington softball team last night when they were swept in a road doubleheader at Fort Madison. 

As heard on KCII, it took an hour rain delay before action started and it was the Bloodhounds ready to play by taking advantage of five Demon errors en route to an 11-1 game one win in six innings. It was 2-0 in the third when a couple defensive miscues allowed for a four run frame and a five spot in the sixth headlined by a grand slam from Erika Kruse put the finishing touches on the Bloodhound victory. The Demon offense had four hits with Emmy Wenger going 1-for-3 with one RBI. Claire Robinson tossed 5 1/3 innings in the circle surrendering 11 runs on 12 hits and walking two. 

Already without clean up batter RyLee Fishback coming in, the Demons were even more shorthanded in the nightcap with leadoff batter Leighton Salazar unable to play game two after taking a ball off the face mask. Freshman Alyvia Anderson filled in the catcher spot and provided a spark offensively going 2-for-3 with a double, but it was not enough in an 8-2 loss. The game was tight for most of the way with the Bloodhounds leading 3-2 in the fifth, but a five run frame gave them all the cushion they needed. The Demon bats recorded six hits with RBI knocks coming from Bella Salazar and Olivia Hamilton. Bella Salazar tossed six innings giving up eight runs on seven hits and striking out seven. 

Head Coach Ben Obermann tells KCII Sports it took awhile for his team to get going. “We have had spurts of playing really well this year, but lately we haven’t been able to avoid the big inning. When you play teams with plenty of experience they will make you pay for defensive miscues and that is what happened tonight. I thought in game one we were really flat and did not have the energy that we needed. We improved on that as the game went on, but it was too late.”

The Demons are now 3-9 overall and 2-2 in the Southeast Conference. They return home tomorrow for a double dip with Burlington.