BY SCOTT POWER
The Lady Wildcats were stung by a lack of offense in a 5-3 loss at region foe Calhoun on Tuesday, Sept. 6.

Woodland still managed to keep the game close despite scoring more runs than they had hits thanks to solid pitching by freshman Haley Collum.

“Our girls played well,” Woodland Coach Todd Eubanks said. “Calhoun just played extremely well. The girls played a perfect game on defense and offensively we had our chances. We scored two in the last inning and had two (runners) on. We played to the very end. It was a solid performance. It was two pretty good high school softball teams playing each other.”

Calhoun took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning, but Calhoun cut that deficit in half in the top of the fourth. Peyton Dorn led off the inning by reaching first safely on a third strike passed ball.

Two outs later, Dorn scored from third on a passed ball to make it 2-1, Calhoun.

The Lady Yellow Jackets extended their lead, however, in the fifth on a two-run homer and went ahead 5-1 in the sixth.

Woodland cut that lead to 5-3 in the seventh. Bailey Sakacsi led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch and advanced on a single by Alana Carnes.

One out later, Ashlyn Baines grounded out, but Sakasci scored on the play to make it 5-2. Carnes then scored on a passed ball and the deficit was only two runs.

Jordan Hammonds then reached on an error, but the next batter grounded out to end the game.

The Lady Wildcats had only two hits on singles by Hammonds and Carnes.

Collum took the loss . She gave up five runs on nine hits in six innings. She struck out two and walked one.