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Coffee County softball opened Class 4A District 9 play with a loss Tuesday night.

Hosting Lincoln County, the Lady Raiders fell behind early on the way to a 5-0 shutout.

This was also the team’s second straight scoreless loss after opening its Warrior Classic schedule with an 8-0 loss to Warren Township (Gurnee, Ill.) at Riverdale High School in Murfreesboro Monday.

“They (Lincoln County) made plays when they had to and we struggled tonight to find those plays. We played well, just not well enough. We knew coming into this game that they were gonna be tough,” Coffee County coach Brandon McWhorter said. “They have a good pitcher and they have really good hitters. I think they average about eight runs a game, so I’m happy that we were able to get them down there, but we’ve just gotta have more confidence at the plate. We’ve gotta be able to hit the ball a bit more.”

Scoreless after the first inning, Lincoln County got on the board in the top of the second and continued to grow its lead from there. The Lady Falcons went on to make it a 2-0 game in the top of the third inning before adding two more runs in the top of the fifth.

Coffee County gave up one more run in the top of the sixth before Lincoln County sealed the win in the following inning.

“It’s all about me. We talked about it last year, same time, same place, they were celebrating on our field. It’s how we improve, how does this game make us better,” McWhorter added. “As long as this game makes us better, we’re gonna be better in May and that’s all that matters.”

Haleigh Skipper had the Lady Raiders’ only hit of the night in the bottom of the third inning.

Lily Norman pitched all seven innings, finishing with three strikeouts, eight hits, five runs and two walks.

Coffee County (5-5, 0-1 district) returns to Murfreesboro to resume Warrior Classic play Thursday. The Lady Raiders will open the day with a 10 a.m. game against Bradley-Bourbonnais (Bradley, Ill.) at Starplex Field 2. This will be followed by a noon game against Floyd Central (Floyds Knobs, Ind.) at McKnight Park Field 2.