Softball: Cougars Lose to Chargers, Tie for Second in District

With such a young team — only one senior on its roster and two freshman starters — the Oakton Cougars have been able to overcome their own immaturity for most of the season. But not Tuesday night.

The Cougars fell to the Chantilly Chargers 3-0, landing them tied with Chantilly for second place in the Concorde District, in a game head coach Ray Gordon said could have been won in the first inning.

"We had bases loaded, one out," Gordon said. "We should've blown them out in the first inning but we didn't score. In the end, we deserved to lose. We did not play well."

But missed signals, failed bunt attempts, three errors and what Gordon called "bad effort" left the Cougars scoreless in the end.

The Chargers scored their first run in the third inning and wouldn't build on that lead until the fifth where they scored their last two runs because of three consecutive singles (Alex Sallberg, Jen Loh and Tori Doherty) and a fielder's choice.

The closest the Cougars came to scoring was in the fourth inning. Third baseman Kelsea Sinnett started the inning with a single to left field. Hayley Mills advanced her to second base with a sacrfice bunt — the only successful bunt attempt for Oakton — and Angie Noveillo's groundout advanced Sinnett to third base. With two outs, Mary Kate Mehegan hit a hard line drive down the left field line only to have Chantilly shortstop Bryanna Kerbuski notch the third out with a diving catch.

With freshman phenom pitcher Allison Davis out because of injury, the Cougars have had to adapt. Though they've been able to win most of the five games she has missed, Gordon said it has hurt how the team plays. But not necessarily because of pitching.

"It hurts not having her bat in the lineup, and the team kind of feeds off her, too," Gordon said. "But that's no excuse. We've still got to play. You know, you've got the wounded soldier, you've got to step up and help him. We haven't taken that mentality to come out and play harder."

He praised the way freshman Becky Cerva and her reliever, Hayley French, pitched. Both gave up a total of nine hits, with Cerva striking out two and French striking out one.

"Since Allison's gotten hurt, our pitchers have stepped up," Gordon said. "They're not even really pitchers. They are softball players who are doing what we ask them to do, and I've had no complaints about them."

Davis is eager to play despite her injury, but Gordon said it won't happen until she is healthy.

"She's a little better now, but I won't play her until she's 110 percent ready," Gordon said. "I care way more about her as a person than I do as a softball player. I'm not going to put her in danger. I'd lose every game before I put a kid in danger."

But Gordon is hopeful heading into the end of the season, during which the Cougars will face four Concorde District teams.

"I'm a fighter, so we're not going to quit," Gordon said. "I know we can get our act together."

The Cougars (9-4-1, 4-2) will travel to Battlefield High School today for a game at 6:30 p.m.