Errors hurt Callaway in loss to Harris County

Published 12:00 am Thursday, March 3, 2016

By Kevin Eckleberry

keckleberry@civitasmedia.com

HAMILTON – The Callaway Cavaliers saw their three-game winning streak come to a close with Wednesday’s 7-1 road loss to Harris County.

Callaway head coach Dusty Hubbard said some defensive breakdowns were the primary reason for the loss.

“For the first time this year, we just played bad, bad defense,” Hubbard said. “We just didn’t catch the ball at all. I think we had five errors.”

Hubbard said the Cavaliers, who fell to 3-2, are “searching for consistency.”

“That’s the name of the game in baseball,” Hubbard said. “We can be pretty good, but there are days where we can be really bad. We’ve got to be more consistent at practice, too. We have days where we have a lot of energy, and then we have days where it’s a struggle. That’s what we’ve been talking to them about. And quite frankly, we had two days before this game where it was a struggle. We did more chewing butts than we did trying to coach kids. Your focus and and your energy needs to be consistent. Right now, we’re not able to do that.”

In Wednesday’s game, Slone Raper got the start for Callaway, and he pitched four innings, and only two of the four runs he surrendered were earned.

Dylan Johnson threw the final two innings, and he allowed two runs, although one of them was unearned.

Hunter Rollins headlined the offensive effort with two hits, and he had Callaway’s lone RBI.

Callaway will look to start a new winning streak when it visits Manchester today, with the game set to start at 5:30 p.m.

Last week, Callaway beat Manchester 9-0, with Josh Hanson and Rollins combining for the no-hitter.

“We get to go back (today) and play and hopefully get better,” Hubbard said.

Callaway has games against Troup and Heard County next week before opening its Region 5-AAA schedule on March 15 against Haralson County.

SOCCER: The LaGrange Lady Grangers didn’t give up a goal in regulation or overtime, but they still ended up losing their Region 1-AAAAA opener to Northside on Thursday.

In a game dominated by the defenses, it was scoreless after regulation and the two overtime periods.

It then came down to penalty kicks, and Northside got it done.

While Northside made three penalty kicks, LaGrange made just one, and that was the difference.

LaGrange will be at home on Friday against Smith’s Station, with the girls’ game starting at 5:30 p.m., and the boys’ game to follow at 7:30 p.m.

Reach Kevin Eckleberry at (706) 884-7311 or on Twitter @lagrangesports