By ROBERT L. LEE

LUTCHER – The girls’ softball metro league ended the summer season when the three area team played their last day of games Friday in Lutcher.

The Lady Bulldogs, Lady Rebels and Lady Comets have all hosted a six and sometimes seven-game series each Friday for the past three weeks.

However, the loss of E. D. White from the schedule just before the first day of games on June 7, almost forced the season to end one week ahead of plan. But, the short string of softball teams and their players never seemed to give the shortage a second thought, and continued playing with, and against their neighboring friends.

The Lady Bulldogs managed to squeeze four games between the bases and came out with an overall 3-1 finish. Lutcher’s first team, compiled this particular Friday of mostly varsity players, took on and beat Riverside and St. Charles Catholic, each once, while the second team, next school year’s freshmen and sophomores, beat the Lady Comets, but fell against the Lady Rebels.

“The varsity team did real well, everybody hit well, and ran well. Very seldom did we strike out,” said Lutcher coach Phillip Creel. “The group has been playing together well,” which he said stems from the players’ experience playing with and against many of the same girls since little league. He said he was especially pleased by the base running, because he teaches his players to make things happen offensively even after the batter takes a base.

“We don’t just sit back when we get on the bases,” he added. To get to the bases, the Lady Bulldogs used effective bunts, which Creel said were some of the best and most consistent he’s seen.

The Lady Rebels finished with only one win Friday, coming from their first game of the day, which caused coach Kelly Louque to link the other two losses to a tired group of players.

“Our first game was great, the fielding and the bats were coming around really well,” said Louque. “But once you play with all you’ve got, it’s hard to win again.”

She mentioned that she had individually worked with some of the players’ and their swings, and noted across the board improvements. Louque also said the entire summer gave the team a chance to brush up on the basics, like leveling their bodies to hit and throw the ball.

St. Charles Catholic coach David Lowry said having a number of players out playing travel softball, or out with injuries helped lead to their 1-2 series total. However, the situation gave the younger players a dose of the reality which comes from being on a softball team.

“The younger players got a chance to step up and play a lot. For most of them, they’ve got to understand they’re only an injury away from being on the field,” explained Lowry.

As far as the Lady Comets’ first-game loss, he said he didn’t know if the players were just sluggish, but it seemed they weren’t focused. The Lady Comets fell twice to Lutcher, but earned one win versus the Lady Rebels.

“There are a couple of girls in the lineup who are not ready for prime time, but have got some talent and speed,” he said.

“I’ve got to teach them a few things, but there are some who could make a living at beating out throws. I am learning every day about them and something new we can do. Everybody has room for improvement, including the coaching staff.”

Of the most important lessons Lowry hopes to teach his players is that any error on the field can, and usually does become a compound error. This happens because of the game’s design as well as the close proximity of the bases.

“On defense, you’ve got to make plays when the ball is hit to you and you’ve got to put the ball in play,” he explained.

“There is no gorilla ball in softball. You’re not going to see those multi-run innings like in baseball, but if you do, it’s because of fielding errors. That’s what summer is all about, finding out the situations where you can lesson the opportunity for mistakes.”

“This metro season helped us 100 percent, it was better than last year,” said Creel. “Everyone on the team has improved. I know we enjoyed it as coaches. The summer season takes a little pressure off, but you still learn a lot.”

The Lutcher coaches learned some of the players work better at different spots along the field and have the spots which need improvement narrowed down.

Of all the areas and players on the field, Creel credited Shelly Lambert, Carlie Humphries, Cassie Martin, and Kristen Louque for excelling throughout the summer.

“Shelly pitched extremely well against Riverside and St. Charles Catholic, she has real good command,” he continued. He said he is looking for Humphries and Lambert to be among his ace players for the next season.