Head coach Tim Davenport summarized the efforts of his Pike Liberal Arts softball team in one sentence ”Too many errors and not enough hits.”

The Patriots committed four errors and only had two hits in a 5-1 losing effort to Macon-East Montgomery Academy in the opener of a doubleheader.

Ellie Barron went the distance in the loss, providing a gritty performance in the circle for the Patriots, allowing eights hits in the game. She also added the only knocked in the only run for Pike on a single to left in the sixth, plating Kayla Benton, who recorded the first hit earlier in the inning on a long triple to right.

Macon-East scored in the first inning courtesy of two errors, a stolen base and an RBI single. A second run scored on a bloop single in the fourth, and a third run scored in the fifth on a walk, infield error and sacrifice fly.

“Overall I was pretty good with our performance,” Davenport said. “They are the number one team in the AISA and we played right with them.”

The nightcap saw Shelby Baggett take the ball for PLAS and provide a solid effort. After giving up a run on two hits in the first, she shut the Knights down for the next three innings. She also contributed defensively by snaring a line drive bound for center and turning it into a double play.

The Patriots scored their lone run in the bottom of the first with Lexi Pigott getting an RBI single to left to score Merla Laviner. Pigott, Laviner and Mary Margaret Starling had the only hits for Pike.

Macon-East broke the game open in the fifth with a six run inning to complete the sweep of PLAS by a count of 7-1.

The Patriots will next play in the Jonah McWaters Tournament with an opening round matchup with Northside Methodist set for a 3p.m. start today.