CB South Defeats Softball in Districts, Rd. 3

It's been an ongoing postseason theme for the Spring-Ford softball team. Low-scoring offense. Tough defense.

Unfortunately for Spring-Ford, only one-half of that trend showed up on Friday against Central Bucks South. The girls lost to the Titans in round three of the district playoffs, 8-0.

"I can't explain it," said head coach Tim Hughes. "One of those things in 20 years of coaching I can't explain. I can't say they weren't ready to play. They were excited and they were there."

The Rams only had two hits in the game, and mental mistakes came early. In the first inning, a run scored on an RBI-single, which was preceded by a base-hit on an error at first base. That runner advanced to second on a wild pitch, and was driven home by the RBI.

"We just made so many mental errors defensively that we don't typically make," said Hughes. "It took away from our offense too. We left a bunch of runners on again. We had opportunities. We just cannot come through in the last three games. 8-0, the kids didn't quit. They're not happy with their play."

The errors continued in the top of the fourth. With two outs on the board, a runner was stopped at the plate, but Lex Nadwodny's throw to first got away from Becca James, allowing another base runner to score. An RBI-single came next before the side was retired. The Titans led 3-0 at that point.

Then Central Bucks South had its big inning, scoring another five in the bottom of the sixth.

"I'm taking nothing away from them," Hughes said. "That's a real good team. They deserved to win today."

The girls have another shot at glory, as there is a playback opportunity in districts. They will take on Central Bucks East, the 18 seed, on Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Ram Park. The girls will be the home team as they are seeded third in the tournament.

Hughes concluded that the girls have some work to do.

"We knew we had to play solid defense to beat teams with these good pitchers and muster enough runs," he said. "We didn't do either of them today. I guess we've got to be working a little bit more of that in practice."