The ConVal softball team came up just short in a pitchers' duel against Bow Monday that proved a tough start to a challenging four-game week for the Cougars. 

ConVal got another terrific start on the bump from freshman Sydney Borges (15 strikeouts, three hits, two walks, one earned run). Borges allowed one earned run in the top of the fifth inning, where the Falcons scored a pair on a fielding error and back-to-back hits from CalyPoitras and Maddy Oppold.

The Cougars, meanwhile, ran into Falcon freshman pitcher Taylor Ouellette (12 strikeouts, four hits, one walk), who took a no-hitter into the fifth inning and kept the Cougar bats quiet. 

"Their pitcher was good," ConVal head coach Amanda Hinton said after the game. "I knew it would be a pitchers' duel."

After breaking the ice with a hit in the fifth inning, ConVal threatened in the sixth. Down 2-0, the Cougars started with a leadoff bunt from catcher Avery Moore, who appeared to beat the throw to first but was called out.

ConVal then got a bunt hit from Borges and a perfect sacrifice bunt from Chloe Hamlin, but that was it, and the inning - and ultimately, the game - ended with no damage done from the ConVal side of the ledger. Opale Barrick (2-3), Hannah Beisang and Sydney Borges had ConVal's four hits.

"It was inevitable that it was going to be a really close game," Hinton said. "Plus, we knocked them out of the playoffs last year, so, even though there aren't a lot of girls on our team that remember -- because we graduated all of them -- they had some that definitely remembered."

The loss was just ConVal's third on the season; they've gone down 2-0 against Bow, 1-0 to Laconia and suffered a freaky 8-1 extra-innings loss to Hollis-Brookline. As of Tuesday afternoon, only Kingswood (14-1), Coe-Brown Northwood (14-1) and Oyster River (13-3) held better records in Division II.

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However, this could be an unprecedentedly tough week for ConVal, as Monday's game was their first of four in a row. The Cougars beat Merrimack Valley 5-3 Tuesday behind 13 strikeouts from Borges, are scheduled to host Milford Wednesday and play at Sanborn Thursday.

Hinton said she couldn't remember any previous scenario in which her team had played on four straight days. 

"It is going to be hard," Hinton said. "Four games in a row is pretty difficult, and we play some of the better teams in our division this week."

Regardless of this week's outcomes, ConVal has clinched a playoff spot and looks to be a top contender when the postseason rolls around. Hinton's Cougars -- many of them volleyball players still riding high from their fall postseason run -- have had their sights set on the tournament since the beginning, and expect an energy boost when they get there. 

"I said at the beginning I thought this was totally going to be a rebuilding season," Hinton said. "And we've come out, we fought the whole entire season and we'll fight hard this week too, but just to make playoffs, it makes me super happy. And I know the girls are really excited about it, too."