The Manhattan High Indians softball team fell in both games of the doubleheader to the Hayden Wildcats last Friday night at home. Hayden brought the hits to Manhattan as they dominated the games 9-1 and 8-2.

“They were just hitting the ball well,” sophomore Ellie Hacker said. “[They] timed our pitcher early in the first game and we just couldn’t hit consistently throughout both games.”

The Indians, who only have one more double header this season, will try to turn these losses into wins come playoff time. As stated at the start of their season, the team still has high hopes to make a run at state.

“They do have a goal to qualify for state and make it to the state tournament,” head coach Connie Miller said earlier this season. “That’s something that we haven’t done in many years, and so I think that’s probably their primary focusing goal.”

The coaches and players still believe certain things will need to be worked on before they can move forward in achieving their goal of making it to state.

“We need to work on our offense and be[ing] able to put the ball in play like the teams we’ll face,” Hacker said. “We just need to keep playing solid defense. [We need] to try to compete with the teams and make the games close.”

The team agrees that they’ll need to work on their offense and how they put the ball into play.

“Our offense needs to improve,” Harper said. “Good things happen when we hit the ball.”

In addition, Miller will be looking towards the experienced Varsity players to lead the Tribe through this rough patch and into playoff time.

The Indians will return home tonight to face off with the Emporia Spartans in the last regular season doubleheader.