'Jacks split with Del Tech; streak ends at 22
GEORGETOWN, Del. – Errors were a major issue when the Skipjacks split their first six games of the women's softball season. They were the main factor Monday afternoon as Delaware Technical & Community College-Owens Campus rallied past Chesapeake College, 4-3, in the second game of a doubleheader to end the Skipjacks' 22-game winning streak.
"We dropped a pop-up, we dropped a fly ball and we dropped a throw," Chesapeake head coach Durrie Hayes said of the Skipjacks' miscues. "We've just got to make those plays.
"They're plays we should make and we just didn't," added Hayes, whose team fell to 25-4 with the split. "Errors are part of the game. We just need to move on. I'm not going to criticize them for losing a game after winning 22 straight."
Chesapeake, which rolled to a 6-2 win in the opener, frittered away a 3-0 lead in Game 2 by allowing a pair of unearned runs in both the fourth and sixth innings. Del Tech's Kyra Webb also played a critical role, throwing three innings of no-hit relief with six strikeouts while allowing just one base runner to claim the Game 2 victory.
Brittney Platt had a two-run single and Tori Hughes added a run-scoring hit in a three-run third, but that was the extent of Chesapeake's Game 2 offense, thanks in large part to Webb.
"She was just popping the ball," Hayes said of Webb. "We're not used to seeing pitching like that. That's what we need to see before we get into the regional [tournament]."
Chesapeake's Game 2 starting pitcher, Chloe Day, allowed seven hits in five innings with no walks and one strikeout while yielding two unearned runs. Reliever Kara Wood took the loss, giving up two unearned runs on two hits and two walks in one inning.
Chesapeake's Rachael Milligan tossed a five-hitter with nine strikeouts and just one walk and didn't allow an earned run in winning the opener. The Skipjacks scored three times in both the first and fifth innings to build a 6-0 lead.
"Rachael threw the ball well," said Hayes. "And they [Del Tech] were a little shaky in the field in the first inning."
Savannah Miller (2-for-4, three RBI) had a run-scoring single in a three-run first that also included two walks and a critical Del Tech error. Hughes (2-for-4) had a bases-loaded, two-out single in the fifth that plated a run and set the stage for Miller's two-run single that made it 6-0.
Kristina Shank went 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, and Courtney Stubbs had a double for the Skipjacks in the opener.
The Skipjacks, 12-0 in the Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference, can clinch their first undisputed state title since 1981 with two wins in their final six conference games. Chesapeake's first chance to clinch comes Wednesday, when the Skipjacks play a 3 p.m. conference doubleheader at Frederick Community College (11-18, 8-8).
Chesapeake is currently four games in front of second-place CCBC-Catonsville (24-16, 12-4) in the loss column and swept the Cardinals earlier this season to claim the tie-breaker advantage. No other conference team has less than six losses.