Almost had it

By Michael Brooks

Staff Writer

Ever since the Boling Bulldogs entered district 28-3A, no softball team in the district has been able to defeat them. On Friday night, the Industrial Cobras had them on the ropes but were unable to deliver the knock-out hit. Last year, Boling defeated the Cobras 4-0 in a pre-district tournament game, then 3-0 and 7-0 in district. This time though, the Cobras didn’t get shut out, but fell one run short as the Bulldogs escaped with a 6-5 victory.

“We always have that one inning where we kind of have some rough patches,” Jillian Jones said. “We just need to clean up those rough patches and we will get it.”

That “one inning’ came right at the beginning of the game. Boling jumped on the board right off the bat, putting up four first inning runs. The bulldogs were aided by two errors and a blown strike three call by the home plate umpire.

After the leadoff hitter reached base with a hit, the number two hitter reached on an error. The number three hitter was facing a two ball and two strike count when Lexi Mikulec delivered a ball that the umpire called a strike. As the hitter was walking to the dugout, the umpire said “two and two” and the Boling coach told her batter to go back to the box. Cobra assistant coach Kensey Allen talked with the umpire before the hitter went back into the batter’s box.

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