MANDATA - Line Mountain's season has been up and down so far.
The good, like an 8-3 win last week over Upper Dauphin in eight innings, has come, but the bad has appeared more than the Eagles would like.
Monday at home, the streak of bad luck yielded a 13-0 loss to Halifax in Tri-Valley League action.
Line Mountain scratched out just four hits, one per inning over the first four, and didn't get a runner past second base.
Meanwhile, Halifax scored in each of the mercy-rule shortened five innings of play.
"We're streaky. We're up. We're down. We play great one week and the next we're flat," Line Mountain head coach Jordan Taraschuk said.
The Wildcats' runs came honestly enough in the first inning.
After Line Mountain starting pitcher Sarah Lahr got the first two batters out, Halifax's Morgan Cox singled through the left side of the infield.
Lahr's counterpart on the afternoon, Halifax pitcher Chelsea Konyar, then sent the ball over the center-field fence for a two-run home run.
On the flip side, Line Mountain got a single from Jayci London, who also singled in the third, and then nothing more.
"If we play well on both sides of the ball the first inning, we'll play well the whole game," Taraschuk said. "If we don't get started right away. ... That's how things seem to go."
Halifax scored three more runs in the second, again with two outs. All three were unearned, but that didn't help the scoreboard or the fact that Line Mountain trailed 5-0.
Line Mountain responded again with a single from Brooke Long, but with two outs already, the Eagles' options were limited.
"We couldn't string hits together and when we got people on we couldn't do much because they were getting on with an out, or usually two," Taraschuk said. "It's tough to do anything but say to the girl at the plate, 'Hit the ball hard somewhere,' because we can't play small ball down this many and having outs already."
Halifax added two more runs in the third and another in the fourth before breaking out with five runs in the fifth to close the game against the Eagles.
Game Summary
HALIFAX (AB-R-H-BI) - Walker 2-1-0-0, Crowell 1-0-1-0, Buggy 4-1-0-0, Cox 3-3-2-0, Konyar 4-2-2-5, Seiders 2-0-1-1, Bainbridge 4-1-1-0, D. Erdman 3-2-2-0, T. Erdman 2-2-1-0, Miller 3-1-1-2, Grille 0-0-0-0. Totals 28-13-11-8.
LINE MOUNTAIN (AB-R-H-BI) - D. Long 3-0-0-0, London 3-0-2-0, Lukoskie 2-0-0-0, Boyer 2-0-1-0, Copson 1-0-0-0, Lahr 2-0-0-0, B. Long 2-0-1-0, Giordani 2-0-0-0, Reed 2-0-0-0, Long 0-0-0-0. Totals 19-0-4-0.
Extra-base hits: 2B - Bainbridge, Boyer. HR - Konyar 2.
IP H R ER BB K
Halifax
Konyar 5 4 0 0 1 5
Line Mountain
Lahr 5 11 13 9 4 2