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All season, the Lady Raiders’ varsity softball team has had some struggles with scoring runs as well as preventing their opponents from responding with their own runs. The month of April came with some more difficulties for the Lady Raiders in that regard as to this point, they have allowed three of their four opponents to score into double digits. While they could not keep many of the games close, the Lady Raiders battled to prevent shutouts with just one so far in April. Their lone shutout loss came at the hands of the Tidehaven Lady Tigers to begin last week’s competition. Rice followed that defeat with a trip away from home to Hallettsville where they suffered another blowout defeat.
Vs Tidehaven, L, 17-0
The Tidehaven Lady Tigers did not give Rice many opportunities as two of the teams in the bottom three spots of the district competed. The Lady Raiders struggled with many of the same difficulties that have plagued them all season long. They were held in check offensively with a strong defensive effort and quality pitching from Tidehaven. With limited success on the offensive side of the ball, the Lady Raiders could not find any way to score runs as they were held to their 11th shutout loss of the season. It also marked the fifth-highest run total allowed by an opponent this season.
On the defensive side of the ball, Rice could not keep Tidehaven from reaching base and scoring runs from the basepath. Walks, errors and other mistakes cost the Lady Raiders as the Lady Tigers ran out to a huge early lead. With the early, mercy- rule finish, Rice got few opportunities to try to cut into the lead or break the shutout.
Vs Hallettsville, L, 13-1
The Lady Raiders ended the week with an improved per formance against Hallettsville, one of the top 3A teams in the state. While they still struggled to consistently find hits and baserunners throughout the lineup, they managed to find enough momentum to prevent a second-straight shutout defeat. Despite finding a marginally increased level of success offensively, they still struggled in preventing the Lady Brahmas from having their way on the offensive end. Rice allowed another hot start by an opponent as Hallettsville quickly took an advantage and continued to press the issue. The Lady Raiders had no answer for the potent hitting and baserunning of one of the state’s top 25 teams, and they fell to their district opponents by a large margin.
