Consecutive two-run innings allowed the Chanute Blue Comets to pull away and hand the Humboldt Lady Cubs a 5-3 loss Monday.
Despite a handful of standout performances, the Lady Cubs could not hold on after establishing an early lead during Wednesday’s rescheduled non-conference game.
“It was frustrating. One game, we’ll be on and throwing strikes and their pitches are working,” Humbold coach Bred Piley said. “Just like the first inning — boom — one, two, three and they’re finding the strike zone. Then, we’ll walk three or four batters. We have to get mentally tough, and we’ll be a pretty good team.”
The Lady Cubs jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a pair of singles by senior shortstop Laney Hull and senior third baseman Shelby Shaughnessy, who tied for the team-lead in RBIs with one each. 
Chanute responded with five-unanswered runs to take control by the sixth inning. An error forced on a hard grounder by sophomore outfielder Lakyn Meadows drove in junior pitcher Taevyn Baylor in the sixth inning, but that was as close as Humboldt would get after Chanute held them scoreless in their final at-bat.
“Anytime we can play someone of Chanute’s caliber, a bigger school, it helps us,” Piley said. “Once we go back to our Tri-Valley League, we walk through them pretty good, except with Bluestem.
“It helps and it’s close to home. We go to Iola Friday, so we’re going to get both sides of it.”
Baylor took the loss, despite tallying six strikeouts over four innings while allowing six walks and three earned runs. Sophomore Jo Ellison came on in relief with a pair of strikeouts over two innings while allowing a pair of earned runs and a walk.
With the loss, the Lady Cubs fall stay just above .500 at 5-4.
Their only concern at the moment is their Tri-Valley Conference record of 4-2, which they hope to improve when they face Fredonia Thursday.
“We’ll probably play well (at Fredonia), we just have to play well against tougher teams and not just know we’re going to walk over somebody,” Piley said.
“We have to play well when we’re up against teams you know you have to play well against to compete, and we’re struggling with that right now.”
