The Plano East softball team has struggled through much of district play.

After dropping two district games last week, the Lady Pan­thers fell short again this week with three more games.

Plano East opened the week with an 18-3 loss to Coppell on Tuesday, March 23. The Lady Panthers took an early lead in the game, scoring three runs in the bottom half of the third inning to take a 3-2 lead over the Cow­girls. Kelsey Keierleber opened the scoring with a double to score Aahmyri Kennedy. Lauren Trinh then singled in Keierleber and advanced to second base before Victoria Jackson-Sears doubled in a third run to take the lead.

That was all Plano East could muster, however, after they to­taled just three hits in the rest of the game. Coppell, meanwhile, quickly tied the game in the top of the fourth inning. They then tacked on five more runs in the fifth and eight runs in the seventh to finish the victory.

Trinh got the no-decision in her start for the Lady Panthers, pitching four innings and giving up three runs. Macynzi Cardwell came in the fifth inning and was responsible for the rest of the runs for Plano East in the losing effort. The Lady Panthers committed eight errors in the game.

Plano East looked to rebound but fell in game two of the week, losing 6-4 to Marcus last Friday, March 26. The Lady Panthers again jumped out to an early lead, but failed to hold on as Marcus scored five runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Plano East scored three runs in the top of the third, all with two outs, off of singles from Payton Leonard and Ashlyn Bullington.

The Lady Panthers once again hit a scoring drought after that, failing to score while Marcus came back for the victory. Trinh once again got the no-decision, striking out three batters over five innings. Sydney Hernandez got the loss in the bottom of the sixth, giving up two runs in her lone in­ning of work.

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By Kyle Grondin • [email protected]