WEIRTON — The Weir softball team had the pitching, but the Red Riders were doomed by not enough offense or defense.

Weir jumped out to an early 2-0 lead against Wheeling Park, but the Patriots plated one run in the third and four more in the fifth en route to a 5-2 victory Wednesday evening up at the Roberta “Birdie” DeFrancis Softball Field.

“Eliza has a case of lack of support,” Weir (7-3) head coach John Leary said. “We kicked the ball all over the field, and our defense was surpassed by our atrocious hitting. We only hit two balls hard.

“You have to give credit to the other team. You have to give credit to their pitcher. They hit the ball hard. I had us with five errors in the field. When we make errors, the other team takes advantage. We made errors, and they were able to take advantage. You have to give them credit. They did what you are supposed to do. We made mistakes, and they took advantage of them.

“They are aggressive. They have good hitters. Their pitcher did a good job. I don’t want to disrespect them. They are a good team.

“I am just totally disappointed with us. We did not show up. We did not play well. That’s disappointing. We have to get that fixed. This was a big game for points in the OVAC, and we have another big point game tomorrow with Edison. I knew we were going to have days like this, but if we want to make the playoffs and making it back to the state tournament, we cannot play like this. We are going to have to play better.”

Utt struck out eight without walking a batter for Weir, but the senior standout took the loss. Offensively, Utt reached twice — once on a bunt single, stole a base and scored a run.

Illiona Kirlangitis tallied the only other hit — a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh — in the game for the Red Riders.

London Fankhouser delivered the win in the circle for the girls in blue. Fankhouser finished the game with four strikeouts and four walks.

The visitors outhit the hosts, 6-2, and the visitors from Ohio County collected two extra-base hits in the win.

Wheeling Park had an opportunity to take an early lead as Brenna Tipton reached on an error, and stole second base to give the Patriots a runner in scoring position, however, Utt struck out the next two batters to escape the inning unscathed.

Lila Boilegh, who walked all three times she stepped to the plate, drew a leadoff walk in the home half of the inning, and the speedy shortstop advanced to third on Utt’s bunt single. Bella Weber followed with a groundout to score Boilegh giving the Red Riders a 1-0 lead. Loganne Barton followed with another groundout scoring Utt to increase the Riders’ advantage out to 2-0.

Mikaylah Alderman led off the third with a triple to right, and she scored on a single to left by Abby O’Donnell pulling the Patriots to within 2-1. Alderman added a single later on in the ballgame.

The Red Riders had an opportunity to extend their advantage in the third, however, they were unable to get the job done. Boilegh and Utt were issued back-to-back walks with one out to put two runners on base, but their pair would be stranded on base thanks to a pair of groundouts. The first groundout moved the runners up to second and third, while the second one ended the threat and the inning.

The inability to plate the two runners ultimately proved costly for the home team.

After neither team was able to score in the fourth, the victors took control in the fifth.

Grace Tamburin started the inning off by reaching on an error, and she scored on a double by Ava Harris to knot the score at 2-all. Harris ended up scoring on a single by Tipton to give the Patriots a 3-2 lead. Kylah Cunningham contributed a single scoring Abby O’Donnell, who singled, to make it 4-2, and Harmony Bittner plated Tipton on a sacrifice fly to center to make the score, 5-2.

Weir had three chances to try and come back after that, however, they were unable to do so.

Boielgh walked with two outs in the fifth, but she was stranded at first on a groundout. The home team was retired in order. Kirlangitis singled to start the seventh, but a groundball double play and a pop-up ended the game.

“As Clint Hurdle would say, ‘shower that one off and come back tomorrow,'” Leary said. “I knew we would have days like this due to our lack of experience. We made mistakes, and then we compounded those mistakes. We made five errors.

“We made a bunch of mistakes in that four-run inning. We have done that in all three of our losses. We gave up a four-run inning to Martins Ferry, and we gave up a six-run inning to them. We had a four-run inning today. We have to be able to stop the bleeding. Last year, we hardly had four-run innings. Those crooked innings kill you.

“We couldn’t come up with a base hit. The top of our order got on base. I have to give them credit for that. They got on base, but we were not able to drive in any runs. The first inning was a blueprint for us. We got a runner on, we were able to get a bunt down and our three and four hitters hit the ball hard to bring the runs. After that, we were dead silent at the plate.”

Wheeling Park is scheduled to play University at 5 p.m. today on the road.

Weir is slated to play Edison at 5:30 p.m. today at home.

Wheeling Park 5, Weir 2

Wheeling Park 001 040 0 – 5 7 0

Weir 200 000 0 – 2 2 5

WHEELING PARK (7-5): Fankhouser WP (4K, 4BB) and West. O’Donnell S; Tipton S, RBI; Cunningham S, RBI; Bitner RBI; Harris D, RBI; Alderman S, T.

WEIR (7-3): Utt LP (8K, OBB) and Barton. Utt S; Weber RBI; Barton RBI; Kirlangitis S.