DHS senior Emily Ginn makes a sliding catch on a pop-up in the Blue Devils' 8-2 home loss to Pleasant Grove on Tuesday. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

It may have been a different day for the Davis High softball team, but again it proved to be the same story.

As has been the norm of the 2015 season, the Blue Devils played their opponents close and hard for six of the innings, but fell apart for one — this time resulting in an 8-2 Delta League loss to visiting Pleasant Grove on Tuesday.

“That’s the way it’s been the whole year. We can’t get away from it,” said DHS skipper Art Guerra. “We’re just staying positive at this point. I don’t know what else to do.”

It was Tuesday’s second inning that did in the Devils (5-13, 1-5) as the Eagles (12-6, 3-3) rocked sophomore starting pitcher Audrey Dufresne for seven runs, putting the locals in a hole and forcing Guerra to bring in fellow sophomore Rosie Heilmann into the game early.

From that moment on, Heilmann allowed just one run in the six full innings she pitched, but the Davis bats couldn’t match the quality her pitching.

Though the Blue Devils did well to procure 11 base runners, they also stranded nine of them partially due to the plethora of strikeouts.

“Twelve strikeouts killed us (Tuesday),” Guerra said. “We can’t leave runners on base like we do. All we have to do is get four or five hits in a row like they did.”

“It’s not like we’re not giving ourselves a chance to win. We are. It’s frustrating from a coaches standpoint because when you played, at least you could control some of it.”

And DHS did look like it might have a late comeback in the chamber in the final two innings …

Dufresne led the sixth frame off with a single to left field before freshman Evelyn Andrews moved her over with a bloop single to shallow right.

Heilmann then walked to load the bases with no outs, but senior Rachel Mobley grounded into a double play.

Dufresne did score on the groundout, and the Devils had another runner on third base, but a strikeout ended the inning.

Then, with one out in the bottom of the seventh, junior Catherine Slabaugh and senior Dominique Sommer singled to give Davis another slight hope, but two more strikeouts ended the inning and the game.

“We’re giving ourselves a chance every game,” Guerra said. “We just shot ourselves in the foot that one inning. It’s like can we erase that? Can we have a redo?”

While it’s not a do-over, Davis will have a chance to get right back out on the field, playing at Monterey Trail on Wednesday.

— Reach Evan Ream at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @EvanReam

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