Fort Madison bugged with errors and mayflies

FORT MADISON – It literally was the best of times, and the worst of times Monday night at Baxter Sports Complex.
Fort Madison’s 9-6, 9-11 split with Mt. Pleasant had just about everything in it, including a four-inning deluge of mayflies that almost made playing impossible, clearly the worst of the night.
The best of times were had by senior Brylie Lorence who homered twice in the doubleheader. Lorence was 4-of-6 at the plate with four hits, four RBI and three runs scored. The worst of times may have been Lorence picking the pesky bugs out of her facemask for three innings behind the plate for the Hounds.
The worst of times also had to include the 12 errors on the night the Hounds committed, eight of which came in the second game.
Fort Madison opened up a 6-1 lead in the first inning of the nightcap sending 11 hitters to the plate. Fort Madison put together seven straight hits including a double from Ava Taylor to left that scored Ava Fuget and Kylie Lumino for the Hounds first two runs.
 Emma Snaadt then singled followed by Laci Gathers single, Olivia Buckner’s single, Lucia Darnell’s single and starting pitcher Jordyn Marshall’s two-run single that scored Buckner and Gathers for a 6-1 lead.
But the Panthers would answer with two runs each in the second and third inning to cut the lead to one. Fort Madison would score a run in the bottom of the fourth for a 7-5 lead, thanks to Ava Taylor's RBI single with two outs.
But Mt. Pleasant would score six over the next two innings running 17 hitters to the plate over the span and taking an 11-7 lead while the infestation of mayflies overcame players, officials and fans. At one point, officials ordered additional lights to be turned on near the field to hopefully draw the bugs away, but it only seemed to enhance the swarm.
Despite the ground and air thick with bugs, play continued. Marshall opened the bottom of the sixth with a single and was driven in when Lorence hit her second homer of the night to dead center making it an 11-9 game. The Panther’s Jolynn Martin was able to work a couple Hound outs after the home run to get the game to the seventh.

Lucia Darnell pitched to just three hitters literally throwing through the mayflies getting a strikeout and two groundouts.
Emma Snaadt singled to start the bottom of the seventh and swiped second before being thrown out trying to get to third on Gathers’ grounder back to the pitcher. Buckner and Darnell would pop out and ground out to end the game.
Doherty said the Hounds just had the yips and that’s disappointing.
“You’re not going to win ballgames that way. That’s tough because I feel like we spend a lot of time on defense,” Doherty said.
“Honestly, it’s just us playing tight. I think the first game we had some errors and that carried over to game two. We were playing not to lose and we lost. We had girls out here making errors that don’t typically make a lot. We didn’t have any rhythm, and they didn’t execute the most important part of the game.”
In the opener, the Hounds had three errors but managed a big third inning putting up six runs on seven singles highlighted by Taylor Huffman’s two-out single that scored Buckner and Taylor. Lumino also had a two-run single in the inning. Mt. Pleasant scored two in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to 9-6, but Darnell would button things up from there in securing the win. Marshall took the loss in the nightcap.
The Hounds (6-7,  4-4 in Southeast play) host Cardinal Tuesday night again at Baxter's . They will finish up the week with a Thursday night game at Keokuk before a doubleheader at Fairfield on Monday night.