Dropping below .500 to 7-9 on the season, the Labette Cardinals were swept by the Rose State Raiders, 9-1, 10-2, at home on Tuesday afternoon in a non-conference doubleheader.
Over the two losses, Labette committed nine errors, allowing Rose State to pile on big frames. 16 of Rose State’s 19 runs came in three error-riddled innings.
“We don’t compete when we have pressure put on ourselves,” Labette head coach Ryan Phillips said. “We’re putting ourselves in bad situations and we don’t have the drive to just get over it and move on. We sit on it and dwell on it and it turns into a five-run inning. We can’t get over the hump. I don’t know if it’s immaturity or competitive nature or a willingness to want to compete. I don’t know.”
Labette’s best frame was the bottom of the fourth in Game 2, when the Cardinals trimmed a four-run deficit in half by pushing across runs with the short game.
“The two runs we scored was the only inning we executed,” Phillips said. “That’s the only inning we got a successful bunt and did what we were trying to achieve. We aren’t executing our short game and that’s the aspect of the game that helps us be successful.”
Maddalynn Romo, making her second start since returning from injury in Game 1, allowed 10 hits and five walks while striking out four.
“Today, it was the defense,” Phillips said. “She did her job in the circle. We kicked a couple of balls around and they put up some runs on our defense. They weren’t hard hit balls. She threw well today. We’re just trying to get her feet back under her. She’s going to give us a chance to win.”
Addi Brown had a two-hit, one-RBI game at the plate in Game 2 for the Cardinals.
Caitlyn Suhrie ate the loss in the circle, allowing eight hits and three earned runs over five frames.
“Our schedule is tough. We’re not playing bad teams,” Phillips said. “I’m not mad that we’re losing. I’m mad with the way we’re losing. I’m not happy with losing. But we’re allowing all of our runs in just a few innings.”
Up next
Labette faces Rose State again, this time on the road, on Friday. The Cardinals then host Southwestern on Tuesday.
“We’ve got to work on our offensive execution and clean up our defense,” Phillips said. “If we do those two things, we can compete with these good teams. We’ve proven it. We lost a one-run game to Crowder. We’ve beaten Butler. Those are games we’ve played well.”
