Cuba High School’s softball team continued its busy stretch of play with back-to-back games in St. James and at home versus Jefferson. The Lady Wildcats were also scheduled to host Lebanon Sept. 16, but the game was rained out due to heavy rain in the area.

Cuba’s varsity team lost both of its match ups, dropping to 0-9 on the season. The Lady Wildcats’ junior varsity team earned the first victory of the season Sept. 14 at any high school level after winning 14-10 in a high scoring showdown.

The Black and Gold are scheduled to host consecutive home games Sept. 22 and Sept. 23 against Newburg and St. James respectively, which will be detailed in next week’s edition. Cuba will then compete in a double header Sept. 24 in Perryville before returning home to take on Hermann and Vienna Sept. 28 and Sept. 29, respectively. The Cats’ Sept. 29 match up will be the Lady Cats Strike Out Against Cancer Game which will feature items available in a silent auction that will benefit a local citizen’s battle with cancer.   

Sept. 14 vs. St. James

The Lady Wildcats took the short drive down Highway 44 to take on the St. James Lady Tigers. Both teams played each other two days prior on Sept. 12 in the Cuba Lady Wildcats Tournament. St. James won 17-2 in their first match up, and although Cuba was closer, the result was the same in St. James.

The Lady Tigers scored eight runs in the first inning, five runs in the second and held Cuba scoreless through its first three frames to take a 13-0 lead into the fourth inning. The Lady Cats rallied to score two runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings, but eventually fell 14-4 in five innings due to the run rule.

Brookelynn Tiner led the Lady Cats with two hits, two stolen bases and a run scored. Teryn Vass singled, scored and drove in a run, Savannah Vass singled, walked and drove in a run, Lily Becherer singled, walked, drove in a run and stole a base, Addison Lowes walked and stole two bases and Jaci Sanders stole a base.

Makenlei Shafferkoetter hurled 83 pitches, striking out one in a complete game effort on the pitchers circle for the Lady Cats. Lilian Snelson led St. James with three hits, three runs batted in and three runs scored and Lady Tigers’ catcher Kirrah Drennan threw out two Cuba runners trying to steal bases.

Cuba’s junior varsity team earned its first victory of the season, defeating St. James’ JV squad 14-10 in a back and forth affair during the second game of the day between the Lady Wildcats and Lady Tigers. Statistics weren’t provided for the match up.

Sept. 15 vs. Jefferson (Festus)

Cuba welcomed the Jefferson Lady Blue Jays to Steve Schuette Field on a hot day, where the game was pushed back an hour due to scorching temperatures.

Jefferson struck first, plating three runs in the first to take a 3-0 lead. The score remained the same until the top of the third inning, when the Lady Jays plated five runs and took an 8-0 lead.

The Lady Wildcats then showed patience at the plate, rallying for five runs in the bottom of the third without registering a base hit to make it a 8-5 game.

Unfortunately for Cuba, Jefferson responded with 10 runs in the fourth and five runs in the fifth inning off Lady Cats’ relief pitchers Shafferkoetter and Akadia Sanazaro to turn the close match up to an eventual 23-5 final score in five innings. The loss wasn’t all on the Lady Wildcats’ pitchers, as Cuba’s defense committed seven errors, leading to nine unearned runs.

Cuba was held hitless by Jefferson pitcher Maci Duvall, but had plenty of base runners after walking eight times and reaching on an error. Savannah Vass walked all three times she came to bat and scored once and Eliza Ledbetter stole a base to pace Cuba. Duvall struck out 10 hitters and had three base hits, three runs batted in and three runs scored to lead the Lady Jays.