The Nation Ford Falcons softball team fell to the Clover Blue Eagles Friday to drop below .500 in Region 3-5A, but head coach Criag Brown said now is not time to panic.
Nation Ford lost 9-2 to Clover and is now 6-6 overall and 1-2 in the region. The loss was the second straight for the Falcons.
Brown said it is early in the region schedule and there is still time enough to straighten things out.
“Three games doesn’t make it over,” he said. “We have to make some adjustments.”
Nation Ford got just three hits in the game and did the most damage in the bottom of the seventh. Two of the three hits came from Sydney Johnson with the other hit coming from Olivia Southerly.
Clover struck first scoring in the top of the second as Kailey Alston struggled pitching allowing 13 hits and nine runs. She did strike out three without allowing a walk. The Blue Eagles added two more in the fourth and went up 3-0 before Nation Ford even got a hit.
In the bottom of the fourth, Emma Skovran reached on an error by Clover and then would score on a single from Johnson to put the Falcons on the board.
Clover had two more big innings. The first of those coming in the sixth inning where they scored two runs on four hits. The Blue Eagles then exploded for four runs on four hits in the top of the seventh to put the game out of reach for Nation Ford.
Nation Ford did score in the bottom of the seventh as Southerly doubled to open the inning and then scored on a passed ball after Johnson singled her over to third.
“We had them shut down for a little bit and they made the adjustments they needed and we didn’t make the adjustments we needed,” Brown said.
Up next for the Falcons is their first contest of the season against Catawba Ridge as they head to play in the Swamp Monday.
In other sports…
The Nation Ford boys’ soccer team improved to 10-5-1 with a 3-0 win over Boiling Springs. They are now 4-0 in Region 3-5A.
The Nation Ford girls’ lacrosse team was dominate against Irmo winning 26-5 to improve to 5-5 on the season.
The Fort Mill softball team beat Gaffney 16-3 on the road to improve to 6-2-1 overall and 2-0 in Region 3-5A.
The Catawba Ridge baseball team beat York 8-7 to improve to 9-3 overall and 5-1 in Region 3-4A play.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
