Cuba High School’s junior varsity softball team won its second game of the season Oct. 8 against St. Clair.

Cuba’s varsity team remained winless after falling to Owensville in its last home game of the season Oct. 5 and dropping a Oct. 8 road game to St. Clair. The Lady Cats are 0-17 on the season heading into its last regular season game Oct. 12 in Newburg.

The Lady Wildcats will take on Owensville again at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 14 in the Class 3 District 2 Tournament in Sullivan. Cuba is seeded seventh and Owensville is the number two seed. The winner of that matchup will take on the winner between three-seeded Lutheran South and sixth-seeded St. Clair at 6 p.m. the following afternoon.

Sullivan is the number one seed and will play the winner of four-seeded St. James and fifth-seeded Notre Dame (St. Louis) Oct. 15 in the semifinals.

Oct. 5 vs. Owensville

The Lady Wildcats welcomed the Owensville Dutchgirls into town on a beautiful Monday afternoon for its home finale. Before the game, Cuba celebrated senior night, where the Lady Cats’ only senior, Teryn Vass was honored alongside her family.

Unfortunately for Cuba, the celebrations didn’t last once the game started. Owensville poured on 13 runs in the first inning and four runs in the second to take an early 13-0 lead. The margin could’ve been wider, but Owensville head coach Hannah Koppelmann showed good sportsmanship to not run up the score, instructing her team to leave base early and get out during the first and second innings, in order to prevent the inning from spiraling even further.

Facing the run rule in the bottom of the third inning, the Lady Wildcats erupted for eight runs to prolong the contest. The Dutchgirls would add four more runs and Cuba added one as Owensville held on for a 21-9 win in five innings. Owensville moved to 10-12 with the win and Cuba dropped to 0-16 with the loss.

Harper Maxwell singled, doubled and scored once to lead the Lady Cats. Jaci Sanders singled, walked twice, scored once, stole a base and drove in a run.  Brookelynn Tiner walked, scored twice and drove in a run. Emma Kitchen singled, scored and drove in a run. Savannah Vass walked, singled and scored. Teryn Vass, in her final game at Wildcat Pride Field, walked and scored.

Makenlei Shafferkoetter started in the pitcher’s circle, but was relieved by Maxwell before recording an out. Maxwell struck out two Dutchgirls in 1 1/3 innings before Eliza Ledbetter came on to pitch the final 3 2/3 of the game.

Owensville junior Shae Abernathy led the Dutchgirls with three hits, three runs batted in and five runs scored. Abernathy also pitched for Owensville, earning the win after completing 3 1/3 innings.

The Dutchgirls’ junior varsity team defeated Cuba 9-6 in the second game of the evening.    

Oct. 8 vs. St. Clair

Three days later, Cuba traveled to St. Clair to take on the Lady Bulldogs. The Lady Wildcats took an early lead after plating five runs in the top of the first inning. Cuba tacked on one run in the top of the third and led 6-2.

But St. Clair answered with eight runs in the bottom of the third and four runs in the bottom of the fourth to swing the pendulum. After Cuba plated one run in the fifth to trim its deficit to nine, St. Clair added one run in the bottom of the inning to walk off with a 15-5 win in five innings due to the run rule.

For the first time this season, four Lady Wildcats collected multiple base hits. Savannah Vass had two hits, two stolen bases, one run batted in and scored twice to pace Cuba.

Ledbetter singled, doubled and drove in two runs. Tiner and Addison Lowes each collected a pair of singles, stole a base, scored once and drove in a run. Maxwell singled, stole a base and scored and Lily Becherer and Teryn Vass each stole a base.

Ledbetter tossed the first two innings, striking out one Lady Bulldog. Maxwell pitched the next 1 1/3 inning before giving way to Shafferkoetter who threw 2/3 of an inning before St. Clair walked off with the win.   

Oct. 8 JV vs. St. Clair

In the second game of the evening between the Lady Cats and Lady Dogs, each team’s junior varsity teams faced off in a back and forth three inning thriller.

Cuba led 5-3 after a high scoring first inning. The Lady Wildcats didn’t score in the second frame and St. Clair answered with four runs to take a 7-3 lead into the third inning. However the resilient Lady Cats plated four runs in the top of the third to take a 9-7 advantage into the third and final inning.

St. Clair then scored one run, but Keira Long bore down on the mound for Cuba and secured the 9-8 victory for the Lady Cats.

Akadia Sanazaro twirled two innings, striking out three as Cuba’s starting pitcher and singled, stole a base and drove in a run at the plate.

The freshman, Lowes, followed her two-hit performance in the varsity game with two hits, two runs scored, two stolen bases and one run batted in during the JV contest. Kelsey McGinnis had two hits, two stolen bases, two runs scored and one run batted in. Kaylee Whitworth singled, scored, drove in a run and stole a team-high three bases.