The Chesterton softball team had overcome some mistakes through the first two rounds of the Sectional, but they couldn’t do it again on Friday.

The Trojans made two costly errors and picked up only three base hits as they fell 8-2 to Portage in the Championship game of the IHSAA Merrillville Sectional.

“We made two big errors and just didn’t make any adjustments on offense at the plate,” Chesterton coach LouAnn Hopson said. “When you don’t play defense well enough, you better hit, and we certainly didn’t.”

The Indians started their scoring in the fourth inning when they put two runners on base thanks to a fielding error and infield single against Chesterton starter Krista Bottos.

A ground out put runners on second and third, but another ground ball was thrown over the head of first baseman Kelci Garcia allowing two runs to score. A fielder’s choice was followed by three consecutive singles for a 4-0 Portage lead.

The Indians got two more runs in the fourth inning on a two-run single by Dani Bryan.

“It just became contagious,” Hopson said.

Solo runs in the sixth and seventh innings put Portage up 8-0 before the Trojans tried to mount a last gasp comeback effort.

Jessica Peterson started the frame with a walk. After back-to-back strikeouts, Jeannette Sosnowki blasted a two-run home run over the right-center field fence. A fly out ended the ballgame.

“We started the year hoping we’d be around .500,” Hopson said. “I thought that would be a reasonable expectation and it was.”

Signs point to a solid returning core next year with the Trojans losing just three seniors.

“We’ve got some learning the game things that have got to get better,” Hopson said. “Just because they’ve played for a year doesn’t mean those things just happen. We’ve got a ways to go, but we’ve got a chance.”

HR - Jeannette Sosnowski (C). Pitching Summary - Portage - Hannah Smock (7 IP, 3 H, 4 K, 1 BB); Chesterton - Krista Bottos (2 IP, 2 H, 1 K, 1 BB), Taylor Harlow (5 IP, 13 H, 0 K, 1 BB). WP- Smock. LP - Bottos.

Posted 6/1/2009