Prep Softball: Redbirds score late to beat Bulldogs

It wasn't the start to the conference race that Harrisburg head coach Red Stafford was hoping for in a 2-0 loss to West Frankfort Monday, but the longtime softball skipper saw plenty of positives.

"We played good defense and I was really happy with the way Matty (Hawkins) threw today, we just didn't get a lot of hits and when we had runners in position, we struggled to score them," Stafford said.

Hawkins took the loss, falling to 6-3 on the season as the sophomore went the distance, giving up two runs on 10 hits, while striking out eight and walking none in a bounce back effort from a unfortunate outing against Union County, Ky., over the weekend.

Harrisburg (9-4, 0-1) had seven hits on the day as freshman catcher Karsyn Davis went 2-for-3 and Brittany Hutchison finished 2-for-2 at the plate.

"We didn't hit the ball," Stafford continued. "We had a couple of chances to score early with a runner at second and one out and couldn't get a hit and in the fourth, we had a runner at second with one out and couldn't get a hit. Then in the fifth, we had a couple of runners on and couldn't get a hit. It was just one of those days."

West Frankfort plated both runs in the top of the seventh inning to go on and post the victory.