Lady Indians bats fall cold, lose to Marion 3-0
Ally Dunaway of the Marion Lady Wildcats (2-2) was nearly perfect Tuesday evening, shutting out the Du Quoin Lady Indians (6-3) in a 3-0 win. <br />Dunaway surrendered just two hits and one walk over her seven scoreless innings, striking out three batters as her defense was error free. <br />"We saw her last year a little bit and we know she has a deadly change-up," Du Quoin head coach Jason James said. "I thought she did a good job of changing the ball's speed. I didn't think we did a very good job of adjusting to it. We'd go up there, take the fastball and swing at change-ups in the dirt or chase. We put the ball in play, but not enough to do things. <br />"They are a great team defensively, they are not going to make many mistakes so we have to hit the ball harder than we did today."<br />Du Quoin starter Mackenzie Jackson was impressive as well, surrendering just five hits and two walks for the three runs (two earned), while striking out 10.<br />"Jackson threw the ball well today, she had 10 strikeouts," James said. "They (just) had the one timely hit."<br />But, Marion provided just enough offense to spoil her performance. <br />The Lady Wildcats got on the board in third inning, as Devon Davis came up with a pair of RBIs, knocking in Delaney Sutherd and Kaylee McNeely who reached on a walk and single, respectively. <br />Marion tacked on one more run in the fifth on an RBI single from Andrea Roberts who reached on an error. <br />That would prove to be more than enough, as Du Quoin managed to get a runner in scoring position one time in the game, putting runners Avery Shivley (who reached on a walk) and Katie Smith (who reached on a walk) on first and third with two-outs.<br />But, Dunaway escaped the inning unscathed, inducing a pop-fly to second base hit by Jackson. <br />Dunaway retired the side in order in the seventh to seal the win. <br />Now at 6-3, James is just fine where his team is at being so early in the season. <br />"I think our effort is good," James said. "We are getting there. You want to be better in May than you are in March. Hopefully, we continue to build on some different things and get ourselves better. (We have) Harrisburg tomorrow, so we will see what happens." Du Quoin (6-3) will look to rebound with another home game Wednesday, hosting Harrisburg at 4:30 p.m.