The John Milledge Academy varsity softball team saw its season come to an end Saturday, falling to FPD in a best two-out-of-three series 14-1 and 7-0.

JMA head coach Gordon Veal said it was a tough weekend.

“We just didn’t play very good at all,” Veal said. “We picked a bad time to struggle.”

Haley Dunn took the loss in the first game, giving up four runs on five hits and striking out three in 3 2/3 innings of work. Dunn also led the team at the plate, going 2-for-2. She also had the only RBI of the game, plating Macie Couey on a double.

“I think we were intimidated a little bit,” Veal said. “We’ve been saying since last year that FPD is the best team in the state, and they are. I think our younger girls just finally realized that and got intimidated.”

But Veal didn’t blame his team’s youth for the series loss.

“I’ve had some people say that we were just really young this year,” he said. “Yeah, we have some young girls, but after 30 games you can’t say they are inexperienced. By the time we get to the playoffs those girls are seasoned veterans.”

Couey took the loss in the second game, giving a complete game effort. She gave up only two earned runs on four hits.

“Macie actually pitched really well,” Veal said. “We just didn’t give her any help. We have five errors that led to runs, and you can’t do that and expect to win the game.”

Dunn led the team at the plate again, going 1-for-2. Lynsey Rowland went 1-for-2 as well. The Lady Trojans only had two hits on the day.

“Offensively, we just beat ourselves,” Veal said. “We watched the first pitch go right down the middle, then we swung at something that was in our eyes. We helped their pitcher out too much.”

But overall, Veal wasn’t discouraged with the season.

“I still consider this year a success,” he said. “We improved a lot since day one, and we picked up a region championship. The season didn’t turn out the way we had hoped, but we just came up a little short. We’ll just gather it up and get ready to play again next year.”

Sports Editor Ross Couch can be reached at (478) 453-1465 or sports@unionrecorder.com