Fielding errors and a rough go at the plate plagued the Lehman softball team on senior night as they faltered in a 7-2 loss to the Bowie Bulldogs.

“We were distracted from the get go,” said Lehman head coach Robert Young. “We didn’t play very well, and you know what sometimes thats going to happen.”

Eight fielding errors by the Lobos, with six coming in the first two innings, set the team back early on allowing Bulldog hitters to get on base and get into scoring position. After scoring by fielders choice in the first inning, Bowie took a 3-0 lead in the second by capitalizing on a fielding error by Lehman and also a bases loaded walk.

Coming Up
Lehman will hit the road on Thursday to face Akins in their regular season finale with their playoff hopes on the line.

“I don’t care who you are playing, you can play the bad news bears and you give them six errors and its tough to comeback,” Young said. “I think we had eight errors as a matter of fact, and eight errors and giving up seven runs its hard to win any game.”

The Lobos put a run up on the scoreboard in the third inning with a RBI double off the left field wall by Emily Perry, just a foot away from clearing the fence for a home run. But Bowie pitcher Jada Scott halted the Lobos momentum after the third inning run while only allowing two more hits for the rest of the game.

An RBI single in the top of the fourth by Abbey Smith, and three runs in the seventh frame off a double from Scott and a single by Marisela Gil, extended the Bulldogs lead to 7-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. The Lobos put on their rally caps in the bottom of the inning and loaded the bases and scored a run on a fielders choice, but they ultimately fell short on their comeback efforts.

The loss puts Lehman in a three-way tie with Bowie and Del Valle for the two remaining playoff spots in District 25, with only one district game remaining. The fate of the Lobos playoff chances will come down to their Thursday night matchup versus Akins, and also Bowie’s matchup with Westlake and Del Valle’s against Hays.

“We need to take care of business and do what we need to do, and we’ll be alright.” Young said about the Lobos playoff hopes.

Young said that just making the routine play will give the Lobos a shot at winning on Thursday and making the playoffs for the first time in several seasons.

Although the senior class didn’t get a perfect ending on senior night, they’ve been instrumental in the turnaround of the program and a 22 win season.

“I don’t really know how many games they’ve won prior to this, but winning 22 games in a season, we’ve just set records for themselves and said we want to be ‘here’ by this many game or by our tournament play,” Young said. “They’ve knocked out a couple of those goals that we’ve set, and you know we’ve just got one more.”

Lehman will hit the road Thursday to face Akins in their regular season finale.