Baseball: OCS 5, Ruston 4
MONROE, La. — A four-run fifth inning for the Ouachita Christian Eagles (12-14) proved to be the difference Tuesday night in a road match-up for Ruston High (20-8), as the Bearcats fell 5-4 in a non-district contest.
“Back to back losses by one run — we have to learn how to win those types of games,” Ruston High head coach Bryan Beck said. “We talk about giving yourself a chance to win the game at the end and we have not handled that well last two games. We have to find the right combination out of the bullpen who can come in and shut it down even with one-run leads. We also have to be better at the plate late in the game; we had some very uncharacteristic strikeouts and uncompetitive at-bats in the game that ultimately cost us.
“OCS is a state championship program and very well coached, and we let them hang around the ballgame all night. They found a way to win.”
The Bearcats got on the board early with a pair of runs in the top of the first after junior Nolan Parnell took a bases-loaded walk with one out, and sophomore John Parker Moak scored two at-bats later on a wild pitch to put Ruston up 2-0.
OCS then answered with a run in the bottom of the first to cut the lead to 2-1. After neither team plated a runner in the second, Ruston senior Caleb Hampton singled on a line drive to right field in the top of the third inning to score Parnell from first base to go up 3-1. Hampton would reach on an error two innings later and score senior Jake Simmons to go up 4-1 in the top of the fifth inning before OCS got its four runs in the bottom of the stanza for the 5-4 win.
Ruston will return to action Thursday night at home for a district matchup with Pineville.
Softball: Pineville 8, Ruston 3
PINEVILLE, La. — Ruston High’s softball squad (8-13, 0-7 District 2-5A) surrendered four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning Wednesday night to Pineville (23-3, 6-1 District 2-5A), falling 8-3 in a road district match-up.
Ruston High senior Morgan Foster put up a two-run home run in the top of the first on an 0-1 pitch, to bring senior Rilee Atwood across the plate and give the Lady Bearcats a 2-0 lead.
“We had a strong start with the two-run home run in the first inning,” Ruston High head coach Lauren Garvie said. “Our pitchers were allowing the Pineville hitters to put the ball in play so we could make solid outs. We played a tight game for 6 innings until Pineville’s bats started to heat up. Unfortunately ,our bats stayed stagnant, and we were not able to put the ball in play. Overall, it was a competitive game but our bats could not come back alive late in the game.”
The Lady Rebels would cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the second and add another run in the bottom of the third to tie the game 2-2.
Foster would then score on an error in the top of the fourth for Ruston’s final run before Pineville scored six runs over the remainder of the night for the 8-3 win.
The Lady Bearcats will remain of the road for a district showdown Thursday against Neville.
