LAKE STATION | It was a bad day to have a bad game.
Lake Station's best softball season in its school history came to an abrupt end in a 10-0, six-inning loss to Rochester at Tuesday's Class 2A regional hosted by the Eagles.
"We're a good team. We just had an off night tonight," Lake Station coach Linda Llewellyn said. "Sometimes you have that. Unfortunately it had to happen tonight. But we're a better team than what we played out there. We're way better than what we played. Otherwise, we wouldn't be here."
Lake Station managed only five hits off of Rochester's Leighnee Smith and advanced only two runners into scoring position.
"Our bats weren't working today," Llewellyn said. "We didn't have our hitting going. When we don't have our hitting going, we have some problems."
Smith struck out nine in her six-inning shutout.
"We could've hit her," said Lake Station pitcher Shelby Jorgensen, who had one hit. "She was throwing outside a lot. She had a good drop ball."
On the mound, Jorgensen allowed 11 Rochester hits, including two sixth-inning solo home runs to put the game away.
She held the Zebras in check through four innings, allowing four runs to keep the team within striking distance. However, Rochester scored four runs in the fifth, helped by two Lake Station errors.
The Eagles committed six errors on the day.
"We went backwards a few steps on defense," Llewellyn said. "Probably a little bit anxious. The girls have never been in a regional before. That's no excuse though."
But now the team with no seniors and only five juniors is already looking forward to working to get back into a better position next year.
"I just hope we can keep our heads up and be ready for next year, because we're going to come back strong," Jorgensen said. "Have everybody on the same team and some newcomers. It'll be exciting."
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