Just when Freedom cleaned up its defense after a recent loss to Whitehall, the Patriots struggled on offense and lost to Nazareth, 10-4, on April 27 at Freedom.

“We only had seven hits today which is not typical for us,” said Freedom assistant coach Lauren Frederick. “We normally have 10, 12. We’ve had 16-hit games. Our pitch selection didn’t look very good today. We were swinging at some high pitches and some outside pitches.”

But on defense, Freedom center fielder Julia Heineman caught a fly ball and threw out Nazareth’s Natalie Chloros for a double play in the third inning.

“They had been aggressive on the bases all day, so when I saw [the ball] go up and it was pretty high and there was only one out, I knew she was probably gonna go home, so I got behind it and threw it as hard as I could,” Heineman said. “It’s always exciting getting to throw someone out at home.”

The throw reached Freedom catcher Brianna Cole in plenty of time.

“We practice with the runners on third and then throwing home on a tag-up, and we pulled it off today,” Cole said. “We know our outfielders have a good arm, which is why we practice that, and our center fielder has made plays like that before. It was a big play, and I thought that was going to give us more momentum going forward. It definitely did for awhile.”

The Blue Eagles led 5-1 until Madison Glick’s 2 RBI double to left field scored Maddie Cooper and Maia D’Amico in the fourth inning.

Nazareth tacked on a run in the fifth inning on Cassie Zellner’s homer to right center.

With the score 6-3 in the sixth, the Blue Eagles quickly loaded the bases, and Chloros made up for her earlier out at the plate with a grand slam.

“It was 6-3 at that point, so we had the confidence that we could come back and make up a three-run deficit,” said Coach Frederick, “but once you put four more runs up on the board, I think it’s pretty tough at that point. It was the first time all season that I felt that both of our pitchers really struggled in the same game, so it’s tough to overcome 10 runs.”

Kate Miller’s RBI base hit provided Freedom’s last run of the game in the bottom of the seventh inning.

The Patriots will attempt to beat city rival Liberty on May 3 for the second time this season and will take on Northampton in a night game on May 4.