Rebellion sloppy in losing lead, game to Bandits
The climb to respectability in the National Pro Fastpitch softball league has been a difficult one for the Pennsylvania Rebellion.
When the team comes close to the .500 mark – something that has not happened since their inception two years ago – the Rebellion play a clunker of a game like the one Sunday afternoon at Consol Energy Park.
The Rebellion saw a four-run lead evaporate under the crush of three errors, a couple more mental mistakes and a five-RBI game by former Rebellion Taylor Edwards.
The result was a forgettable 8-7 loss to the Chicago Bandits in the middle of a three-game series. The loss drops the Rebellion’s record to 4-8 while the Bandits stopped a three-game slide after winning the first four of the season.
“Losing is not fun and this is one we will look back on it and (shake our heads),” said Rebellion head coach Craig Montvidas. “We should not have lost this game. There is no excuse for it.”
Edwards, who was traded by the Rebellion to Chicago last season, had one of her strongest games in the league. The right-handed, power-hitting catcher slammed her league-leading 11th home run in a four-run fifth and drove in two more in the sixth.
“It’s very unusual to get five runs in an NPF game because we have great pitchers, but I’ll take advantage of anything I can get,” said Edwards, who left Nebraska as the school’s all-time home run leader with 54. “We kept chipping away and grinding. We dug a hole, 4-0, but we kept our heads up.”
The decisive run came in the top of the seventh inning after the Rebellion had tied it in the sixth. Danielle Zymkowitz scored from third when Whitney Arion could not handle Sammy Marshall’s grounder for the fifth error of the game and third by the Rebellion.
“I can’t come up with a reason why,” Montvidas said of the errors. “Maybe we’re running out of gas. We’ve played eight or nine days in a row. We need to find some answers.”
After 2 1/2 innings of scoreless softball, the lead see-sawed. The Rebellion scored four runs in the bottom of the third. The lead would change three times after that until the Rebellion ran out of innings.
“You feel good when you have the lead,” Montvidas said. “We had been able to keep them out of their game for 10 innings, seven (Saturday). Their game is to create havoc on the bases with their running. We let them back in the game.”
The Rebellion built the 4-0 lead when Lindsey Stephens lashed a pitch to left field for a two-run triple and Lexi Elkins belted her third home run, a two-run blast over the left-field fence.
Chicago got one back in the fourth when Natalie Hernandez smacked a solo home run, her third of the season, to left field.
The Bandits took the lead, and knocked starting pitcher Halie Wagner from the game, by scoring four times in the fifth. The key hit was Edwards home run. Chicago left with a 5-4 lead. It didn’t last an inning.
The Rebellion scored twice in the bottom of the fifth – one on an error and another on an RBI single by Elkins – to retake the lead, 6-5. That didn’t last long.
Edwards two-run single off reliever Dallas Escobedo, a bloop into center field, gave the catcher her fourth and fifth RBI of the game.
“The softball gods were with me on that hit,” Edwards said. “But I’ll take anything I can get.”
Lacey Waldrop gutted out seven innings, allowing six earned runs. The Bandits were low on pitching after using Tatum Edwards and Sara Moulton in Saturday’s 8-1 loss.