Not quite enough

Lady Demons come up just short in loss to Iota
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MAMOU -- The Mamou Lady Demons have been through some particularly tight games over the course of this season. In their 22 contests to date, the Lady Demons are 3-6 in games decided by two runs or less, including their 6-5 loss to the Iota Lady Bulldogs here Thursday afternoon.
With that loss Mamou drops to 13-9 on the year and 3-2 in District 5-3A play. The Lady Demons will take on inter-parish rival Pine Prairie on the road tomorrow. Game time is set for 5:30 p.m.
Still, Mamou head coach Kim Manuel is proud of the effort that her team gave against Iota and the effort given over the course of the last few games.
“The attitude has really changed over the last few games,” stated Manuel. “They have been working hard not to get down when we fall behind. They are showing vast amounts of improvement, even though we are still very young.”
“We made some key mistakes on defense today, something we hardly ever do,” Manuel continued. “But, our hitting came around for us today. It is just a matter of putting those two together on a consistent basis.”
Iota looked as if they were going to put the game away early in the contest. The Lady Bulldogs managed to pick up three runs in the top of the first inning on two hits and two costly Lady Demon errors.
Meanwhile, Mamou was being shut down offensively. The Lady Demons were sent down in order for their first two at-bats of the game.
Mamou was able to cut into the Iota lead in the bottom of the third by plating a solo run. A two out single off of the bat of Madison Fontenot started things for the Lady Demons.
Emily Soileau reached on a fielder’s choice, moving Fontenot to second base. Dacia Richard followed that up with a double, scoring Fontenot and slicing the Lady Bulldog lead to 3-1.
Iota responded in the top of the fourth inning, adding two more runs on two more hits and two more Mamou errors.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Lady Demon offense continued from where they left off the inning before. A one out single to left field by Angel Menier jump started the Mamou rally.
An error on the second baseman allowed Tierane Thomas to reach first and push Menier to second base. Destiny Menier then doubled, scoring Angel and moved Thomas to third base.
After a strike out recorded the second out of the inning, Fontenot doubled to center field, plating Angel Menier and Thomas. When all was said and done, the Lady Demons only trailed by one run, 5-4.
The Mamou defense went error free in the top of the fifth and did not allow the Lady Bulldogs to get a runner to first base for the first time in the game.
Needing some more offense, the Lady Demons produced a single run in the bottom of the fifth to tie things up. Richard led off with a single to center field.
She was followed by three base hits in a row from Taylor Douget, Fritz and Angel Menier. Unfortunately, Mamou could only push the one run across, as they left runners on first and second.
In the top of the sixth, Iota got back on the sticks and plated what turned out to be the winning run on three hits, including a double.
The Lady Demons final shot at tying the game came in the bottom of the seventh, when Richard singled to lead things off, but her pinch runner was caught stealing second base. Iota closed things out on two ground outs to shortstop.