Oak Ridge softball struggles with three losses

Oak Ridge High's softball team won its first six games before last week dealt them a cruel hand, as the Trojans lost three consecutive games to some of the top teams in the area: Whitney, Del Oro and Ponderosa. Del Oro (3-2) pounded the Trojans, 8-0, while Whitney (7-2) and Ponderosa (11-0) both beat the Trojans by identical, 3-1, scores, as Oak Ridge's offense struggled to put runs on the board. Despite these losses, make no mistake, Oak Ridge, like the three teams they played, is one of the better teams in the area and should rebound just fine. The team is led by seniors Brooklyn Paratore (catcher) and Emery Glaser (center field) and juniors Kennedi Freeland (pitcher) and Gemma Almont (shortstop). All four will play in college, as Paratore is headed to the University of Washington; Glaser to Nevada Reno, Freeland to Loyola Marymount and Almont to Utah Tech. "Things are going OK," said first-year head coach and 2020 Oak Ridge alum Katelin Eccles, who's co-coaching the team with Tamira Chatman. "We had a little bit of a hiccup this week, but we've got a fairly young squad. We're working together and trying to figure out how to play as a team. I'm looking forward to next week." In Saturday's non-league loss to Ponderosa, it was not a good game for the Trojans, as they had more errors (three) than they did hits (two). The Bruins scored a run in the first inning on an Oak Ridge error and another error played a part in the Bruins scoring twice in the fifth inning to take a 3-0 lead. Oak Ridge's lone run came in the bottom of the fifth when Almont reached base on an error and scored on Camden Glaser's base hit. Almont had the team's only other hit when she doubled in the second inning. Freeland struck out nine and allowed only four hits and all three runs were unearned. The Trojans get back into league play this week with games at home against Rocklin on Wednesday and on the road at Davis on Friday "Every team in our league is great," Eccles said. "It's always fun to play them because we know we're going to get tough competition."