VANLUE — It was a tough week in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference for the Bucyrus Lady Redmen.

They needed a confidence booster outside the conference, and they got it Thursday.

Kendra Blizzard twirled a two-hitter in the circle and her teammates took advantage of some shaky defense as Bucyrus downed Vanlue, 4-1.

“Kendra pitched a real good game,” Bucyrus coach Jerry Hargis said. “She kept it in the strike zone. We fielded the ball awfully well, too. This was one of our better games all the way around. Hopefully, we can build on that and get a little better.”

Lady Red struck in the top of the first inning. Adriana Clark led off with a single up the middle. Brook Dennison was safe on an error, Addy Rister got hit by a pitch and Marissa Middleton was safe on an error.

All of this resulted in two unearned runs for Bucyrus. It was all Blizzard would need.

“We didn’t show up ready to play at all today,” Wildcats coach Taylor Kloepfer said. “We had a hard loss last night (8-6 to Riverdale) and I think that was still in our heads today, honestly.”

Vanlue (6-5) committed seven errors on the afternoon and three of the Redmen’s four runs were unearned.

In fact, Bucyrus (7-7) didn’t take full advantage of the Wildcats’ defensive lapses, stranding 11 base runners.

“There weren’t too many mistakes in there — a few,” Hargis said. “We didn’t get bunts down when we should have. We left runners at second and third in four innings. We have to get those runs in, at least one of them.”

Vanlue pitcher Mara Simon skirted around trouble most of the game, only retiring the side in order once, in the fifth inning. She struck out six and walked five, while surrendering five hits.

But the Wildcats couldn’t solve Blizzard. They squeezed out their lone run in the fifth on a two-out single by Olivia Secord, a stolen base, and a pair of wild pitches.

“Mara is our pitcher, and we expect her to do quite a bit,” Kloepfer said. “But we can’t depend on her to do all of it. Everybody’s got to step up.”

Blizzard retired Vanlue in order in four of the seven innings and set down the final seven Wildcat hitters to end the game. Besides Secord, Simon had the only other hit for Vanlue, a two-out single in the third inning.

Bucyrus got a run in the third inning without a hit. A walk, three errors, and a wild pitch plated Rister.

The Redmen got an insurance run in the sixth when Haylee Stratton led off with a single. A walk, a sacrifice, and two more errors got the run home.

Blizzard fanned nine Vanlue batters and walked only two.

“We talk all the time about locating the ball somewhere in the strike zone,” Hargis said. “(Kendra’s) got a nice changeup. We’ve got to move it in and out, high and low, and she’ doing a pretty good job of that.”

Offensively, the Redmen got singles from Clark, Dennison, Natalie Hankins, Sierra Frost, and Stratton. Dennison and Middleton drove in runs.

Kloepfer saw missed opportunities, though the Wildcats only stranded five runners.

“We’ve got to work on our hitting, hit some holes, and focus on a little better contact,” Kloepfer said.

“We can be an awfully good team if we hit the ball because we have some talent,” Hargis said. “We have some speed, and we play pretty good defense most of the time.”

Box score

Bucyrus     201 001 0       4        5        3

Vanlue        000 010 0       1        2        7

WP: Kendra Blizzard (9 SO, 2 W)

LP: Mara Simon (6 SO, 5 W)

HR: None.

Triples: None.

Doubles: None.

Multiple hits: None.

Records: Bucyrus 7-7; Vanlue 6-5.

Next: Bucyrus at Northmor, Friday; Continental at Vanlue, Saturday.