HCHS softball on three-game slide

 HARLAN -- A third Hawkeye Ten loss in as many nights dropped the Harlan Community softball team to 1-4 in conference play and 4-8 overall on Wednesday, but the Cyclones are truly not far away from sporting the inverse of those win-loss records.
 In Monday’s home game vs. Lewis Central, the score was tied 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth when HCHS failed to take advantage of bases-loaded, no-out situation. LC scored four runs in the top of the seventh - starting with a leadoff error - and won 5-1.
 On Tuesday in Atlantic, a scoreless pitchers duel was interrupted when the fifth-ranked (3-A) Trojans scored three unearned runs in the fifth and held on to win 3-1.
 And on Wednesday night at H. Jack Field, Denison-Schleswig sophomore Sarah Heilesen blasted a fourth-inning grand slam that plated four unearned runs in the Monarchs’ 7-2 victory.
 So while the final scores aren’t necessarily that close on paper, HCHS has competed well for much of the game this week against three teams with a combined record of 36-5. The next step for a Cyclone team which starts six eighth-graders every night is learning how to beat those upper-division opponents when the opportunity presents itself.
 The biggest keys to accomplishing that step include getting timely hits with girls on base and avoiding the untimely errors that give opposing teams extra at-bats.
 “We’re just so close,” said second-year HCHS head coach Brooke Schaben.