By Garrett Kroeger

The Natchez Democrat

Delta Charter School softball coach Jeannie Beach looked down at her feet and shook her head. She was obviously frustrated.

On Friday, the Storm took on the Holden High School Rockets. While Holden is a class below Delta Charter, it did not matter as defensive woes plagued the Storm in a five-inning defeat, 12-0.

“I know (Delta Charter) is a better defensive team than they showed tonight,” Beach said. “I think we left five runners on base, which could have easily been five runs. Obviously our defense, and we also had some pitching errors but not everyone sees that because they don’t know what we are calling. We have to clean up our defense or it doesn’t matter who you are playing, you are going to lose. You have to play defense to win.”

Although Delta Charter had only three errors, it had countless dropped balls and wild throws that allowed Holden to build an insurmountable lead early on in the contest.

In the first inning, the Rockets put up five runs on the Storm. The scoring barrage did not stop there as Delta Charter allowed Holden to score one run in the second inning and three runs in each of the third and fifth.

“We just didn’t play our game,” Beach said “Our defense was just terrible.”

Beach believes the errors that the Storm made on Friday were mental errors. She cited that Delta Charter has played way better defensively all season than they showed against the Rockets.

“They know how to catch the ball,” Beach said. “They have been taught that, and they do it. We practice it, we just did it (Thursday) night. We practiced for three hours. They know how to play defense.

“I don’t know if they were playing under pressure because they knew how good this team was. It don’t matter who you are playing, you have to play your game.”

Delta Charter just didn’t play with enough confidence on defense in Beach’s mind. She said she felt like her team played within themselves throughout the game and did not show the fire she is used to see out of them.

Despite the defensive mistakes and lack of confidence, the Storm did show of life toward the end of the game. Senior Haley Sharp hit a double and her teammates Darby Beach, Jordyn Sharp and Bailey Yates all recorded singles. Yet, Delta Charter failed to capitalize.

With the loss, the Storm dropped to 5-5 on the year. However, Delta Charter doesn’t have days to right its wrongs as they host the Delta Charter Softball Tournament today against Family Community Christian School, Franklin Parish and Rayville. But regardless of the short turnaround, Beach expects her team to come out firing on all cylinders.

“I think they felt embarrassed by the way they played,” Beach said. “Especially when you play at home and you play bad. So I’m hoping they get a good night’s rest and come out here ready to do their thing and run their race. It doesn’t matter who you are playing, you have to run your race. Just run your race.”