The Highland Huskies had one bad inning, and it cost them dearly.

Miscues in the fifth inning opened the door for the Wallkill Panthers to score nine runs in the inning as they handed the Huskies an 11-2 loss on Thursday in a non-league softball game at Wallkill Senior High School.

“We had one bad inning and made more mental mistakes than physical ones,” Highland coach Kathelene Canosa said.

It started with one out in the fifth inning and Wallkill’s Ella Rydell on second base. Grace Rodriguez hit a ground ball to shortstop and Highland’s Emma Hanlon scooped the ball and made a pump fake to first base. That was enough to get Rydell to break toward third base, but second baseman Abby Paserba couldn’t handle the throw and the Panthers had one more base runner and the Huskies didn’t get an out.

Alexa Pavese walked her Wallkill counterpart Emma Hunt to load the bases and Charley Callahan gave the Panthers the lead with an RBI single to left field.

But it was Gianna Allessandro who delivered the big blow as she blasted a three-run double to left field, clearing the bases, giving the Panthers a 6-2 lead.

Wallkill wasn’t done as singles by Elysia Villafane and Gabriela Faia re-loaded the bases and Sarah White delivered a two-run double, and Kasey Garzione’s sacrifice fly gave the Panthers a 9-2 lead. White took third on the throw and then scored when catcher Delainey Reid’s throw went into left field.

Rydell scored her second run of the inning when Rodriguez reached on an error.
The Panthers took the lead early when they loaded the bases with nobody out in the second inning. However, Pavese limited the damage as Wallkill’s two runs came on groundouts by Garzione and Rydell.

The Huskies tied the game in the fourth inning on Gianna Jones’ two-run single.
The Huskies opened the week with a 6-4 win over the Rondout Valley Ganders on May 6.

Pavese struck out seven and Sierra Spinelli had three hits, including a two-run home run and finished the game with three RBIs. Delainey Reid had a sacrifice fly and Ciara Teamer had two hits and an RBI.

They followed the next day with a 17-4 win over the James I. O’Neill Raiders in Highland Falls.

Spinelli had three hits, including a double and two runs scored, and Hanlon had three hits, three runs scored and an RBI. Reid doubled, drove in two runs and scored three and Ciara Teamer had two hits, three RBIs and two Runs scored.

Paserba had two hits, an RBI and a run scored, and Jones had two hits, including a home run and drove in five. Pavese had two hits and three RBIs.

The Huskies, who finished the regular season on Tuesday against the Mid Hudson Athletic League Division 2 champions the Marlboro Dukes, will wait to see where they land in the Section 9 Class B tournament when the seeds are announced later this week.

“We’ve been doing really well,” Pavese said. “We’re a good hitting team and we’re able to make really good plays in the field. I just feel like if we’re all in the right mindset and we just keep playing how we’ve been, I think we can get pretty far during the playoffs.