Lady Tigers’ Offense and Defense: Apples and Oranges

PRESCOTT - The Lady Tigers' offense gave rise to hope for the season, but its defense left much to be desired in Tuesday night's face-off against the Weston- McEwen Tigerscots, head coach Angie Potts said.

"We hit the ball better," she said in an interview after the game, which WP lost 20-7. "That was definitely a bright spot. But a game like this doesn't build confi- dence."

Although it was a non- league matchup against the team from Oregon, Potts said her players are on notice that they have to step up to the plate as individual athletes to make the cut off the deep bench as starters. She described it as a wake-up call.

"This gives us a chance to look at players to determine who gets the job done, whom we want to start," said Potts, who has 16 players for the nine starting positions. "They can't assume their positions are safe."

The Tigers were off to a good start with a single run in the 1st inning, but things began to unravel quickly for the defense in the 3rd, an inning which the Tigerscots dominated with 9 runs on their own hits and plenty WP errors.

"They didn't field, they didn't throw the ball ac- curately," Potts said. "The defense was definitely a step back from some of the previ- ous games."

WP won their three-in- ning games against Dayton and Touchet in the jamboree on March 9, then lost nar- rowly in their first double- header against Pilot Rock on Saturday 1-0 and lost 13-3 in the second game against the Rockets on their home turf.

Potts cited 12 errors dur- ing Tuesday's game against the Tigerscots, a number she had not expected with the Tigers' experience.

Yet there were some high- lights, including senior Katie Hofer's performance on the plate, which included a double and a triple with scores for each.

"It was good to see her hitting come around," Potts said.

Chelsea Brannock threw a running out on a second-base attempted theft and first base- man Heidi Miller turned in a double play to retire the other side in the 3rd.

The Tigers' first league game is against TOR at home at 11 a.m. on Saturday.