ROSE CREEK — The Southland softball team is still looking for its first win of the season, but the Rebels have had plenty of spirit and some offense, in spite of their struggles on the field this spring.

Southland lost its ninth straight game when it lost to Winona Cotter 19-4 in four innings Friday.

While the loss stung, the Rebels (0-9 overall) did put up the second most runs against the Ramblers (13-1 overall) this season. Cotter has allowed just 22 runs in 14 games and only Mankato East, which beat Cotter 6-3, and Southland have scored more than three runs against the Ramblers.

“We keep working on our hitting and we’ve scored some runs. Our bats have been our strength for a while and it’s our pitching and fielding that we need to work on, big time,” Southland head coach Greg Schulte said. “It is a struggle when we haven’t won, but they have shown enthusiasm. I think we’re going to pick up a win soon.”

The Rebels haven’t been shutout all season long and they got on the board in the first inning against Cotter when Lexi Smith drove in a pair of runs to make it a 3-2 game. Cotter responded by scoring 15 runs over the next two frames.

Southland sophomore Larissa Goslee, who went two-for-three with a double, said the Rebels aren’t giving in yet.

“Even when you make a mistake, we’ve got shake it off and help each other out,” Goslee said. “We can’t be negative. We need to work on staying positive the entire game, because sometimes towards the end we kind of tend to die off.”

Cotter 3 7 8  1  —  19 18  4

Southland 2 2 0  0  —   4   5   4

Southland pitching: Lexi Smith (L) 2 IP, 6 H, 5 BB, 10 R, 9 ER, 1 K, 1 HBP; Bailey Johnson, 1 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 8 R, 3 ER; Kiyanna Meyer, 1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 K

Southland hitting: Larissa Goslee, 2-for-3, double, 2 R; Smith, 2-for-2, 2 RBIs, R, BB; Bailey Johnson, 1-for-2, double, 2 RBIs, SB; Kelsey Mensink, 1-for-3; Autumn Brown, 0-for-2; Jenna Bentzin, 0-for-2; Hattie Wiste, 0-for-2; Emily Bhend, 0-for-2; Kayla Nelsen, 0-for-1, R, BB; Meyer, 0-for-1