Published: August 26, 2008 10:10 am      

Coming on strong

Marlow softball team extends winning streak in 3-0 win over Comanche

COMANCHE — COMANCHE — In a game where an error made a difference, Comanche stuck out like a sore thumb.

Marlow took advantage of Comanche errors to break open a 0-0 game with three runs in the final two innings to pick up a 3-0 win on the road. Kailee Roe picked up the win for the Lady Outlaws, giving up three hits and striking out three in a complete game victory as Marlow won its fourth game in a row to improve to 5-3.

“Kailee’s throwing the ball a lot better and that is the key for us,” Marlow coach Brian Miller said. “We’re playing good defense and we took advantage of Comanche’s mistakes. Today, there was two good teams and it came down to errors.”

Comanche’s errors squandered a strong pitching performance from Shayna Milam, who took the loss in a complete game effort. Milam gave up four hits and struck out six. All three Marlow runs were unearned.

“It was a case of not concentrating,” Comanche coach Bill Berry said. “You can’t make mistakes against good teams, but I believe that this is going to make us better. We’re learning by making mistakes and, hopefully, we can make it pay off at the end.”

The Lady Indians committed two errors in the first inning in a sign of what was to come but Comanche got out of the inning unscathed when Milam forced a fly out to strand runners on first and third.

Roe, meanwhile, was backed by solid defense on the part of the Lady Outlaws and retired nine batters in a row with Jacquelyn Martin accounting for two hits in the first and fourth inning. Martin reached second on a sacrifice bunt by Jacobi Clark and would be the only Lady Indian to reach scoring position in the game.

“I was just able to hit my spots,” Roe said. “I am taking my time more and focusing on every pitch.”

The dam broke for the Lady Indians in the top of the sixth inning when Marlow was able to plate the first run of the game. Sydney Shannon hit a fly ball into centerfield that was dropped and advanced to second. After a passed ball moved Shannon to third, Bretlie Richardson hit a line drive into right field that resulted in a run scoring triple.

Richardson missed a couple of games early in the season but has returned to the line-up, batting cleanup and has given the Lady Outlaws a boost in their winning streak.

“I hit leadoff last year, but I’m starting to like batting fourth,” Richardson said. “It’s becoming second nature.

“It took us a little bit to get going. I don’t know why we weren’t playing good, it just took us a couple of games to get our swagger back.”

Marlow added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh, courtesy of a two-out rally. Roe reached on a single and scored on an error that allowed Shannon to advance all the way to third base. Richardson came up to bat and once again delivered with an RBI single.

“Our team is kind of built on getting two hits back-to-back,” Miller said. “We’re not going to bunt and run. I have confidence that we have enough hitters that can get the big hit.”

Richardson was 2-4 with two RBIs to lead the Lady Outlaws. Leippe was 1-3 with a double and Roe went 1-4 with a run scored.

Martin was 2-3 to lead Comanche with Mica Allen going 1-3 to account for the other hit as Comanche dropped its third game in a row to fall to 8-3.

“We’re taking steps backwards but we’re going to use it to our advantage,” Berry said. “We need to get some play out of our seniors.”

Marlow will be back in action today when it hosts Lindsay and Frederick in a three-way.

Comanche will be on the road at Davis.