The Staples girls softball team suffered its first lost of the season to Fairfield Ludlowe on April 6. While the Wreckers defense was consistently solid after the first inning of the game, they struggled on the offensive end and the Falcons came out on top with a final score of 5-3.

“We played messy and had way too many errors in the first inning. Not a recipe to win a softball game,” co-captain Gabby Perry ‘16 said. The Falcons came out strong offensively, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning while the Wreckers only had one in the bottom of the first by Perry.

Pitcher and co-captain Emily Lustbader ’16 and a strong Staples defense did not allow the Falcons to score a single run throughout innings two, three and four. The Wreckers were also scoreless aside from a run scored by Perry in the bottom of the third after stealing both second and third base, just two of her five successful steals.

“I thought that the first game had good communication but we definitely need to play a little cleaner,” Lily Tofel ’17 said. “We all know what we need to work on as batters and for defense we will just need to have more focus.”

Perry scored the final run for Staples in the bottom of the fifth inning after a strong hit by Lustbader to short-stop. The Wreckers gave up two runs in the top of the sixth to allow Ludlowe to come away with a win.

“I think the game allowed us to clearly see our strengths and weaknesses. The team is coming along nicely, but now we know what we need to work on,” Lustbader said.

Although they didn’t come away with the result they were hoping for, Perry is optimistic about their goals of making the FCIAC tournament and hosting a state playoff game, “I think we can accomplish those goals since we were 10-11 last year and are returning 8 of our 9 starters including our two pitchers.”

The girls’ will take on Stamford on April 13 as they hope to clinch their first win of the season.