It was a windy, but gorgeous afternoon for softball at Monarchs Field in Butler. The Lady Bears were playing host to the Warsaw Wildcats, an Ozark Highland Conference foe.

A combination of errors and well-placed balls by the Lady Wildcats offense led to a 4-0 Bears deficit after the top half of the opening frame.

After the Wildcats struck out the leadoff batter, Kiersten Dubray was able to work a walk to give the Bears their first baserunner of the evening. Hudson pushed a fly ball just over first base to give Butler runners on first and second with one out. A passed ball then moved both runners into scoring position. Despite the threat, Warsaw was able to get out of the inning without allowing a run.

In the top of the second inning, a pair of strikeouts, along with a hit, a walk, and an error, left the Lady Bears in a jam with the bases loaded and two outs. After the count was worked full, Butler ended up walking in a Warsaw run. Kinley Cook was able to wrangle in a foul ball near the visitors’ dugout to strand the remaining three baserunners and give the Lady Bears offense a chance to answer, trailing 5-0 early.

While desperately needing to find some offensive energy, the Bears came up short as they were retired in order to end the second.

It felt urgent that Butler hold Warsaw in the third, knowing the top of the lineup was due up in the bottom half. Sensing that urgency, Dubray opened the inning with a strikeout. However, Warsaw battled to put a pair of runners on before finding pay dirt with an RBI single on a well-placed ball into right field. Butler limited the damage to just one run and headed to the plate trailing 6-0.

The Bears once again went three up, three down, failing to find an offensive rhythm.

Warsaw added another run in the fourth to extend the lead to 7-0.

Butler remained quiet, once again being retired in order in the bottom half of the inning.

The Lady Wildcats continued to push, stretching the lead to 12-0 after five and a half innings.

After six, the Wildcats claimed a 12-0 victory.

Dubray collected nine strikeouts through six innings for Butler.

Photos by Erin Dubray