By the middle of the third inning, the Kettle Run and Brentsville District softball teams appeared to be in for a real cat fight with the Tigers leading 2-1.

Kettle Run's Christine Bowman worked herself out of a jam in the bottom of the second with runners in scoring position and two out as she forced as inning-ending ground out to keep the Cougars within striking distance.

Sophomore Tiger catcher Megan Avakian responded the next inning by gunning out a runner attempting to put herself in scoring position after a walk, throwing a one-hopper to shortstop Becki Tucker for the tag out at second base and helping pitching ace Grace Nordan achieve a 1-2-3 inning.

But as Kettle Run (0-4 overall) learned in the bottom half of the third, against a team like Brentsville (5-1), any error can be costly. In this case, a dropped fly ball and two wild pitches acted as harbingers for a four run rally by the Tigers, leading to a 7-3 final score.

"We were all pretty pumped," said BD sophomore second baseman Rachel Lee.

With one out, a Gigi Kolb pop-fly into shallow right field fell between two fielders as the wind batted the ball around, giving the Tigers fresh life and a runner at first.

Tucker responded by clubbing a line drive double into the chalk by third base that the umpire called fair before it dribbled to the fence in foul territory, allowing Tiger manager Amy Beard to wave in the junior Kolb to home.

Bowman threw out Tucker at third base for the second out, but a walk to Danielle Zecca along with Jennifer Moreland and Nordan each taking a pitch off the foot forced another run. Lee's pop fly into shallow right field dropped in for two more runs, putting the Tigers up 6-1 and giving the Cougars a hurdle that even some well-timed hits could not over come.

"(Our) pitches weren't quite working as well as they have in the past," said Kettle Run manager Dan Olinger. "I'm not sure what we need to do, but (we need) more runners in scoring position.

The Cougars managed to succeed in the third inning even without a runner starting at second or third base when Christine Shaw belted a liner to the right-centerfield wall, driving in junior shortstop Alexis Cook to bring Kettle Run back to 6-2.

Kettle Run's biggest obstacle though came in trying to replicate similar feats once Nordan found her groove. Nordan (7IP, 9K, 1BB, 6H) shut down the next two batters and allowed only one base runner in the fifth and sixth innings combined before finally allowing one last run in the top of the seventh.

"She was throwing good pitches," said Shaw of Nordan. "Just, like, she's ridiculous. We just couldn't get our hits together."

Brentsville's catcher Avakian said Nordan "brought a lot of heat which is what I think threw them off."

Beard mentioned one of Brentsville's keys to success is an infield with excellent chemistry, particularly on the left side with veterans Tucker and Abby Carpenter (3B). Routinely against Kettle Run, if a ball passed under Carpenter's glove or she was able to slow it down, Tucker cleaned up behind her with a throw to first.

"They know each others limits and range. That's a heck of a left side," said Beard.

While Kettle Run exited the game winless, Olinger noted that he has a "good 0-4 team.

"We're competing very well. We've got a lot of energy," he said, later adding bluntly. "They just scored more runs than we did."