SLIPPERY ROCK — The last couple of days have been rough on the Slippery Rock High School softball team.

After dropping an 11-1 decision to Warren Wednesday, the Rockets (3-3) took an 8-3 defeat at the hands of Hickory Thursday.

“We're just not doing the fundamental things correctly right now,” Slippery Rock coach Dan Hindman said. “We're not making the routine plays we could or should be making.

“If we field the ball properly, this (Hickory) game may have looked a lot different.”

The Rockets took a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Julia Hart singled to center with one out. Paige Gresgott tried bunting her to second and reached base on an infield error.

Alex Frazier bunted both runners up and they scored when Chloe Sommers' grounder to third was mishandled.

The lead was short-lived, however.

After a pair of Slippery Rock infield errors surrounded an infield single by Morgan Huey, Autumn Black drilled a two-run double to deep left. Black and Avery Micchia scored the go-ahead runs on Carlie Miller's single to right.

Hickory (5-4) used three consecutive two-out RBI singles by Sarah Cardamon, Miller and Jaclyn Fustos to open up a 7-2 lead in the fifth. The Hornets added a single run in the seventh.

Gresgott walked and scored on Darrah Lynch's fielder's choice ground ball in the seventh, but the Rockets wound up leaving the bases loaded to end the game.

Hickory won its third consecutive game.

“This is a big league win for us,” Hickory coach Will Zachrich said. “We got off to a slow start this year. Our one through four hitters have been doing a good job giving us offense.”

On this day, the Hornets' 3-4-5 hitters — Black, Cardamon and Miller — combined for six hits, six RBI and four runs.

Slippery Rock's offense consisted of singles by Mackenzie Hartly, Hart and Sommers, though winning pitcher Black walked five.

“We only have two seniors on this team and Autumn is one of them,” Zachrich said. “She pitched a nice game and we played defense behind her.

“We have no juniors on the roster, so this is a young squad. Next year, we'll have no seniors.”

Slippery Rock is coming off a District 10 championship, but graduated five key senior starters from that team. The Rockets have managed only four runs and five hits over the past two games.

“I think it's more the higher quality of pitching we've faced in those games more than anything we're doing,” Hindman said. “We do have a lot of new varsity players in the lineup and they need a few games to catch up to that quality of pitching.

Alex Frazier struck iout three and did not walk a batter in her five innings of pitching for Slippery Rock, but was hurt by four fielding errors.

“There are a lot of things we have to clean up yet, but we've got girls who can play here,” Hindman said. “I'm confident we'll get better.”

Hickory 004 030 1 — 8 10 3

Slippery Rock 020 000 1 — 3 3 5

W: Autumn Black 7IP (2K, 5BB). L: Alex Frazier 5IP (3K, 0BB).

Hickory (5-4): Megan Huey 1B, Avery Micchia 1B 2-R, Autumn Black 2B 2-RBI, Sarah Cardamon 2-1B 2-R RBI, Carlie Miller 3-1B 3-RBI, Jaclyn Fustos 1B RBI, Maura Mulligan 1B RBI,

Slippery Rock (3-3): Mackenzie Hartly 1B, Julia Hart 1B, Paige Gresgott 2-R, Chloe Sommers 1B, Darrah Lynch RBI

Saturday: Slippery Rock at Warren