Errors hurt Carson in its 7-0 loss to rival Douglas

After an 11-0 loss to Reno on Tuesday, Carson High softball coach John Sullivan thought his team would be focused coming into its game with rival Douglas.

So much for thinking.

The Senators committed seven errors on Thursday, helping the Tigers to a 7-0 win at Carson High. Douglas pitcher Katie Pagen pitched a complete game shutout and struck out nine batters. Carson equaled Douglas' hit total (4), but it's almost impossible to win when you kick it around seven times in one game.

"That may have been the guiness book of world record for errors right there," said Sullivan, who figured it was most amount of errors ever by a Carson team. "It's the old adage: 'See the ball, catch the ball, throw the ball. We only did the first one."

The wheels just didn't come off, the entire truck fell apart. But what's even worse, though, is that the Tigers didn't score as many runs as they could've. Douglas left 10 runners on base, eight of which were in scoring position. The Senators always seemed to make two-out plays, but never could otherwise.

"Kayla Dunn pitched a pretty good game but we gotta' make the plays behind the pitcher," Sullivan said of Dunn, who gave up only four hits, but walked five. "They were just ordinary plays and we didn't make them. If we make them, it's a 2-0, 3-0 ball game, which sure is nicer than losing 7-0."

The Tigers didn't even get their first hit of the game until the top of the sixth when Cheryl Nicoll singled. But by then, it was already 5-0. Errors in the first and second innings gave Douglas a 2-0 lead. The disastrous inning, however, was the fourth, where three-straight errors loaded the bases. Dunn then walked Kaycee Wilcks, which made it 3-0, and tossed two consecutive wild pitches that scored two more runs.

"We had good practices this week," Sullivan said. "Maybe we'll hit them more ground balls in practice. I don't know. The nice thing about athletes is they always know they'll play again tomorrow."

All the madness veiled a superb outing by Pagen, who walked only two batters and spread out her four hits. In the seventh, pinch hitters Devon Bateman and Jodi Gonzales both had RBI singles. Douglas improves to 8-3 overall and 4-0 in the Sierra League.

Brittany Puzey went 2-for-3 with a double for Carson (7-2-1, 5-2), which will play, as will Douglas, in the Reed Easter Tournament today and Saturday. Next week, the Senators travel to Modesto, Calif., for another tournament. Thursday's loss marked the second straight setback for Carson after it started the season undefeated.

"Strength of schedule had something to with that," Sullivan said. "Reno, Wooster, and Douglas are the class of our league. We're going to need to find a way to win a game against one of them if we want to go to the zone tournament. It's tough already thinking about May, but we have a young team. I think we'll be in good shape."