Community R-6 struggled around the plate.

Community R-6 vs Cairo Photo Gallery

When fielding around the plate, the Lady Trojans made several mistakes to contribute to seven errors, five unearned runs and a 5-2 loss Monday at home to Central Activities Conference foe Cairo. They tied the game at 2 in the fourth inning after a two-RBI double by Lydia Hoyt but couldn’t match Cairo’s output.

Head coach Kendra Murphy said it is difficult to believe that Community (8-3, 2-1 CAC) struggled while fielding bunts after practicing those situations last week. Cairo (7-1, 1-1 CAC) advanced a runner from first to third base and then pushed across a run in the fifth inning and then plated one of two runs in the seventh inning on another bunt.

“That’s what killed us tonight,” Murphy said. “We had an opportunity to get the girl out at third, and we went ahead and threw it to first (in the fifth inning) and didn’t even get an out there. Several other times, we had dropped balls at first base on bunts. I don’t really know if we were in position to throw on a couple of them. We didn’t necessarily use the right footwork to be able to look back at the runner and still have our feet under us to make the throw.”

Murphy clarified that first base Aaliyah Welch did well at first base, but bunting plays shifts defenders around where other girls are forced to cover first base. Throws that should've been caught ended up not being outs. 

Curtis had a good night pitching for Community as all of the runs she allowed were unearned, but she also limited Cairo to four hits and one walk. She was more pitch to contact during her seven innings with two strikeouts while her counterpart Olivia Cross struck out eight Lady Trojans and allowed six hits and three walks in seven innings.

“When her changeup was working, that’s when we were struggling the most,” Murphy said. “For the most part, we were doing a good job of laying off her riseball, making her bring the ball down. It was those middle innings when she started throwing more changeups and changeups for strikes. Early, she was trying to throw a change, but it was low.”

Murphy added that Community had enough chances with runners and complimented the 2-for-3 day by leadoff hitter Rylee Rafferty. She said Cairo catcher Kylee Dodge is difficult to run on so advancing runners into scoring position was tougher.

Cairo scored first in the third inning with two runs on a pop fly by Cross that wasn’t caught by the Community infield, going down as an error. The Lady Trojans did answer in the fourth inning on a two-RBI double by Lydia Hoyt, which stayed out of reach of the diving shortstop to tie the game at 2.

The sophomore Hoyt is in her first season as a starter after being used primarily as a pinch runner last season. Hoyt hit in the No. 5 hole on Monday and has five multi-hit games to her credit already this season.

“We look at her in the outfield as one of the leaders out there,” Murphy said. “At the plate, she steps in the box with a lot of confidence. She can come through in a big way like she did tonight.”

Community has needed moments like that during this recent stretch of games. The Lady Trojans went into the week with a five-game winning streak, including three games via one run and one game via two runs.

During that time and beyond, senior Amy McCurdy has stayed hot at the plate with a hitting streak that extended to 12 games on Monday. McCurdy went 2-for-4 to extend a multi-hit game streak to six games. She even came through on defense in the seventh inning by snatching a line drive and doubling off the runner at third base.

“She puts in the work outside of practice,” Murphy said. “She’s very dedicated to getting better. It’s paying off this year. She’s looked good on offense, and she’s looked good on defense. She’s carried our team a lot on offense.”

Community hosts district foe Paris (8-2) at 5 p.m. today.