After opening the season at 6-2, the Bell County Lady Cats have lost five of their last six games to fall to 7-7 on the year.

One day after falling to the Barbourville Lady Tigers 7-6 on the road, the Lady Cats stumbled against the Southwestern Lady Warriors in both games of a doubleheader on Tuesday. Bell County fell to Southwestern 18-3 in the first game and 7-1 in the second.

“We’re in a slump right now,” said Bell County coach Alex Barnett. “Southwestern is a very solid young team. They have great batters all the way through the line-up. They hit the ball exceptionally well in both games. We had some costly errors, but they earned both of those victories.”

In game one, the Lady Cats had trouble on defense, allowing the Lady Warriors to accumulate 18 runs — the most allowed by Bell County all season.

Bell County got two of their three runs in the first inning as Sarah Brooks blasted a two-RBI single, driving in Baylee Allen and Amber Lawson to ty the game at 2-2.

The Lady Cats only managed one more run throughout the duration of the game behind a Lawson RBI in the third inning, while allowing the Lady Warriors to score 16 more runs from the second through fifth innings.

In the second game, the Lady Cats saw their lone run come in the bottom of the first. Raegan Robbins connected on a single, giving Bell County one on base. Baylee Allen then connected on a single, allowing Robbins to advance to third base.

Sarah Brooks then stepped in and connected on a single, allowing Robbins to round home to give Bell County their only run of the game.

Much like the first game, the Lady Cats struggled on the defensive end in the second game and allowed the Lady Warriors to rattle off six unanswered runs, securing a 7-1 victory.

With the losses, the Lady Cats moved to 7-7 on the season. Bell County faces off against the Pineville Lady Lions (3-10) on May 6 at home in a doubleheader.

With the victories, Southwestern improved to 16-5 on the season. They take on the North Hardin Lady Trojans (9-8) on Friday in Cumberland County.