The Seneca Royals softball team was able to complete two games last week but were on the losing end in both games.

The week began with a trip to Iowa-Grant last Tuesday, April 21 to take on a Panther team coming off a 7-1 loss to SWAL rival Mineral Point. The hosts wasted little time against the Royals, scoring twice in the first inning, three times in the second inning, once in both the third and fourth innings and five times in the fifth and final inning en route to a 12-2 defeat of the Royals. Seneca managed to score once in the third and fifth innings for their only two runs of the game.

Brigid Hall (eight runs allowed (six earned) on 11 hits and two walks and four strikeouts in 3.1 innings pitched) dealt the loss on the mound, while Millie Dahlberg (four runs allowed on two hits and three walks in 1.1 innings pitched) ended the game on the mound for Seneca.

The Royals offense was held to four hits as a team, with Grace Varo (1-for-3 with a double and one RBI), Brittany Heisz (1-for-3 with one RBI), Sophia Clark (1-for-2) and Hall (1-for-1 with one walk and one run scored) each having a hit in the loss.

Seneca traveled to Ithaca last Friday afternoon to take on the Ithaca-Weston co-op and were defeated 7-2 by the Bulldogs. The Royals took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning but the hosts quickly responded with four runs in the bottom of the first inning and three more in the bottom of the second inning to go up 7-2 with that score remaining the same for the rest of the game.

Hall (seven runs allowed (only one earned) on nine hits and zero walks with five strikeouts in 6.0 innings pitched) was the losing pitcher, while Addison Davidson (1-for-2 with one walk, one run scored and one RBI) had the Royals hit in the game. Varo went 0-3 with one walk and one run scored to account for the other Royals run. Raya Wallin (0-for-2 with a walk), Adeline Check and Karsyn Thoma were each hit by a pitch during the game to account for the Royals only other base runners in the game. Seneca dropped to 3-6 overall and 1-2 in the Ridge & Valley Conference with the loss.

The Royals were scheduled to play at Viroqua last night but that game was cancelled to make room for Seneca’s home game against North Crawford which was rescheduled from Monday due to weather. Seneca will travel to Richland Center this Saturday, May 2 for a quadrangular also featuring Auburndale and Fennimore with a 9 a.m. scheduled start time.