Eisenhower celebrates with Sammie Childs after her solo home run during Tuesday’s game against West Forest. Times Observer Photo by Steve Younger

The Eisenhower Lady Knights softball team lost to the West Forest Fire yesterday in their season opener 23-8.

The score was closer than the final outcome with the fire scoring nine runs in the top of the seventh to give them some breathing room over a young Eisenhower squad.

The fire jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning and would extend that to 8-0 in the top of the third before Eisenhower would cut their lead in half in the top of the fourth.

The fourth inning saw Eisenhower senior Sammie Childs hit a deep solo home run over the center field fence. Two errors by the Fire led to an additional pair of runs and Kita Nelson doubled to drive in another run for Eisenhower to make the score 8-4 in the top of the fifth.

The Fire would tally three runs in the top of the fifth before the Lady Knight’s Marli Rectenwald hit an inside-the-park homer to make the score 11-5 in favor of the visitors.

The Fire would add 12 runs over the last two innings to put the game out of reach and make the final score 23-8.

“We hit the ball well for being outside for only the third time,” Eisenhower head coach Neal Kent said. “We struggled a little defensively, but I think we see a significant improvement once we get on the field more.”

Eisenhower was led by Rectenwald and Kendra Danielson who each drove in two runs, Rectenwald led Eisenhower with two hits.

Childs took the loss in the circle for Eisenhower as the Fire had 10 hits while the Lady Knights totaled only eight. Eisenhower stranded seven runners and totaled six errors in the loss.