ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER — Keri Suter avoids the tag and slides safely into third against the Ritchie County Rebels.

The softball game between Tyler Consolidated and St. Marys was eerily similar to that of their baseball counterparts. Fortunately for the Lady Silver Knights, it was because the home teams in both contests won by the same score.

Tyler Consolidated held of a comeback attempt by the Lady Blue Devils 4-3 to remain in contention for the LKC tournament.

The Lady Knights took the lead early in the game, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first to put the pressure on their neighboring county rivals to the south.

After St. Marys answered in the fourth by scoring a run, Tyler Consolidated answered with runs in the bottom half of the inning and again in the fifth to make it 4-1.

Errors nearly cost the Silver Knights the game as the Lady Blue Devils came back in the top of the seventh with two runs. Tyler Consolidated had four errors total in the game.

“That should have never happened. That seems like it would set the tone for Saturday,” added Galluzzo.

Still, strong pitching in the circle by Kaitlyn Goudy was one of key components of the Lady Knights defense, as 10 of the 21 outs came by way of the umpire calling a third strike on the St. Marys sticks. Goudy continued to impress by allowing only one hit during the contest.

Tyler Consolidated was also assisted on errors on the Blue Devils’ behalf as they totaled three in the game. The Lady Knights added three hits to that to provide the scoring.

Christy Jones added two doubles and batted in a run to lead the charge while Heather Suter also tallied an RBI. Rachel Yoho was 1-3 with a single.

TYLER CONS. 1, LIBERTY 2

The error bug came back and bit the Lady Knights in their first game of the Ritchie County Invitational on Saturday in Ellenboro.

The Lady Silver Knights committed seven in all and lost by a score of 2-1 in an extra-inning thriller that went 10 frames.

The Mountaineers took the initial 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth, but Tyler Consolidated came right back to tie it with a run in the top of the sixth and forcing the extra innings after a scoreless seventh.

Tyler Consolidate garnered six hits on the day, with four of them being split evenly between Kaitlyn Goudy with a double and single and Sami Jones with two singles.

Heather Lynch and Stephana Wilcox in a pinch-hit role added the other hits for the Silver Knights.

“We had an opportunity to win and didn’t execute and then the extra innings, it wasn’t what I expected to see at this point in the season and the girls know that,” added Galluzzo.

“No one mistake beats you but a bunch of mistakes will come back to haunt you.”

Despite the game going longer than a standard major league baseball game, Goudy went the full 10 innings and averaged a strikeout per inning with 10 while walking only one.

TYLER CONS. 0, RITCHIE COUNTY 10

In the second game of the tournament, the Lady Knights were paired opposite of hosting Ritchie County.

The Lady Rebels showed why they are one of the best teams in the state and sent the Silver Knights home early with a 10-0 game invoking the mercy rule in the fifth inning.

Most of Ritchie County’s offense came in the second inning with seven runs scored.

One was scored in the first and the last two crossed home plate in the fourth.

Ritchie County’s batter allowed only one hit during the game.

The no-hit bid was broken up by Heather Suter. She and Keri Suter provided the pitching for the Silver Knights.

The loss was only the second in LKC play for the Silver Knights, whose record now stands at 8-6 overall.

They will look to continue play this week with games on Wednesday against Magnolia and Saturday against Weir, weather permitting.

If the game against Magnolia is rained out, an attempt to play it Saturday after the Weir game will be made at 2:30 p.m.