For the most part, King’s Fork’s softball squad hit the ball well, fielded the ball well and pitched the ball well Friday afternoon.

Unfortunately for the Lady Bulldogs, is wasn’t enough against the defending state champions Great Bridge and the visiting Lady Wildcats got enough offense against KF pitcher Miranda Whitley for a 3-0 win.

The setback ended a three-game winning streak by King’s Fork (4-5, 3-5), but with how his team played, King’s Fork head coach Richard Froemel remained as optimistic as after any of KF’s wins this season.

King’s Fork managed only one hit against the Lady Wildcats and pitcher Jenna Best, but it wasn’t a typical one-hitter. Best notched four strikeouts on the day; other than that, the Lady Bulldogs hit the ball sharply a number of times and Great Bridge’s defense simply made all the plays.

“We made good contact. We hit the ball hard, but we were just hitting it at people,” Froemel said.

Whitley held the Lady Wildcats hitless for three innings and for two outs of the fourth innings.

Great Bridge strung three singles together with two down in the fourth to plate one run. Three hits to start GB’s sixth inning equaled two more runs.

Whitley struck out two and shortstop Monica Logwood was the backbone of KF’s defense. With a couple plays deep in the hole toward third and a couple plays against speedy Great Bridge runners, Logwood totaled nine plays with putouts or assists.

Logwood drew a leadoff walk in the KF third, but only reached as far as second base. She was the only Lady Bulldog base runner until Niki Cuevas walked with one out in the seventh and Haley Johnson followed with a hit to the right-center field gap. Cuevas was thrown out trying to score from first on Johnson’s hit. Great Bridge got the final out of the game with Alaysha Mikell flying out to right on the next at-bat.

“I’m proud of how they played these last two games in a row now. They’ve responded and I think we’re coming into our own now,” Froemel said.

On the baseball diamond at King’s Fork Friday evening, Great Bridge steadily pulled away from the Bulldogs (2-8, 2-6) for a 13-1 victory.