Fresh off a key victory over rival New Ulm this past Tuesday, the Marshall softball team returned to its home field on Thursday for a twinbill series against undefeated Pipestone Area (16-0), who entered the contest ranked No. 4 in Class AA.
After finding themselves on the wrong side of a lopsided result in Game 1 (14-2), the Tigers bounced back in Game 2 with a gritty effort that nearly culminated in an upset. Unfortunately, fielding errors and miscues late in the game proved costly for the home team as the Arrows took full advantage to win Game 2 9-4 and earn the sweep.
Marshall coach Jack Houseman came away pleased with the way the team opened the finale, but a lack of timely hits early on, combined with situation errors will be something they look to improve moving forward.
“Livy started off OK and got ahead of batters and got them to swing at some pitches, and so I think we got a good start there. We were just a little late on the bats and we need to do a better job in practice preparing the girls for situations out there,” said Houseman. “We had a little bit of a hotbox there or a rundown that we haven’t gotten to in practice and that’s my fault. I thought we played a good game up until those last couple innings there.”
