One day after falling to the 13th Region leading Clay County Lady Tigers on the road, the Middlesboro Lady Jackets fell to the visiting Whitley County Lady Colonels on Tuesday, 8-3.

“We didn’t come to play at all,” said Middlesboro coach Petie Gilbert. “We haven’t shown up in the past few games, and I don’t know what our problem is. We just seem to lack intensity and want to. This is the time of year that you need to be playing your best ball, and we just aren’t doing that right now.

“We’ve only got a few games left before the district tournament, and we have a lot of things that we need to clean up before we get there. We’ve still got work to do and no time to do it in, so I hope we can recover from this quickly and get back to playing like I know we are capable. If we want to have any sort of shot at winning, we are going to have to play our brand of ball.”

The Lady Colonels got things started in the top of the first with an RBI on a sac-fly from Lindsey Shope. The ensuing batter, Baylee Wilson, connected on a one-run home run giving Whitley County an 2-0 lead. Shelby Frazier made a diving catch at center field to retire the side.

Jamarah Young answered quickly for the Lady Jackets from the lead-off position in the first by connecting on a solo home run, bringing the score to 2-1 in favor of Whitley County. The Lady Jackets failed to convert any more runs in the first inning.

To open the second, Malanah Faulkner delivered a line-drive double to the right-center gap, leaving a runner in scoring position. Ryleigh Petrey drove Faulkner in on an RBI single, extending the Lady Colonel lead to 3-1. Whitley County added one more run in the inning on a Kallie Housley RBI triple, giving the Lady Colonels a 4-1 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Lady Jackets added another run on an Aubrey Sowders home run, bringing the score to 4-2 in favor of Whitley County.

The fifth inning would prove to be the main difference in the game as Allison Neace delivered a three-run home run to extend the Whitley County lead to 7-2. Each team would add one more run apiece in the game, with the Lady Colonels securing an five-run victory over the Lady Jackets.

With the loss, the Lady Jackets moved to 12-16 on the season, prior to their match-up with in-county rival Bell County on Wednesday on Senior Night in Middlesboro.

With the victory, the Lady Colonels improved to 14-14 on the season and into fifth place in the 13th Region standings, behind Harlan County. Whitley County was slated to play the Rockcastle County Lady Rockets on Thursday.