Softball: Defense lets Burlington Central down in loss to Marengo

Burlington Central's softball team isn't too worried about a loss in April. The Rockets are thinking a little bit further down the road.

The Rockets' bats and gloves deserted them in an 8-2 Big Northern East loss in Marengo Tuesday, but they have time to put things together.

"We'll take these lessons and work on them in practice, and get ready for May," said Central coach Erica Maisto. "That's why we've got May. It will give us something to work for."

The Rockets took an early lead on Gretchen Schrubbe's 2-run home run to deep center field in the first, but the lead was short-lived.

Indian starter Mariah Dionne went Schrubbe one better, launching a 3-run shot just inside the left-field foul pole in the bottom of the inning.

Central (7-2, 2-1) loaded the bases in the second but couldn't score. Dionne then settled down, allowing just 2 baserunners from the third through sixth innings. Schrubbe reached on an error in the fifth, and Jill Neisendorf beat out a 10-foot dribbler in front of the plate in the sixth.

Meanwhile, the Indians added a run in the fourth, then broke the game open in the sixth. With the bases loaded, Susie Nawrot launched a towering shot over the snow fence in straightaway center.

Rocket starter Emily Kisch pitched better than the final score would indicate. Other than the 2 long balls, she kept Marengo (7-4, 2-0) off balance most of the afternoon, but her defense uncharacteristically let her down

The Rockets committed 6 errors, 4 in the first inning alone.

"We were beating ourselves up by making silly mistakes, like not talking on pop-ups in the infield," Maisto said. "If we had gotten outs when we needed to, we wouldn't have had to make so many pitches."

Kisch, batting leadoff, had a single and a double for Central.