Staff photo / Preston Byers South Range’s Sophia Brogan winds up to pitch during Monday’s game vs. Lakeview in Cortland.

CORTLAND — South Range suffered its first loss of the regular season Monday, falling to Northeast 8 Conference (NE8) rival and defending champion Lakeview 11-8 in Cortland.

The Bulldogs, while driving up Raiders starter Sophia Brogan’s pitch count early, jumped out to a 4-0 lead and, despite a few South Range rallies, remained ahead the rest of the way.

“They can hit,” Raiders head coach Jeff DeRose said of Lakeview. “You can’t make mistakes and expect to win a game. We gave them some extra outs early on, and, honestly, we didn’t have any one-two-three innings. They’re a good team, and so are we. Today was just not our day.”

Although the first inning came and went without a run Monday, Lakeview made Brogan work for the scoreless half-inning in the circle. The Bulldogs drew a pair of walks and a hit-by-pitch to load the bases before Brogan managed to force a pop out to get out of the jam.

Lakeview did not let another scoring opportunity slip away in the bottom of the second inning, when Kalyssa Werner hit a bloop single over the South Range shortstop’s head to bring home Ava Neilan, who had reached base to lead off the half-inning and subsequently advanced on a wild pitch.

Shortly thereafter, Rylee Barnot drew a walk to again load the bases. While she could not get home, three more of her teammates did, as Mack Stowe drove in Annaliese DeJulio and Jianna Shaker to increase the Bulldogs’ lead to 3-0. Isabella Isenberg then hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Werner.

South Range responded well to the four-run second inning. Addison Wardle led off with a hit-by-pitch, and Heidi Bartels laid down a successful bunt to reach base. The Raiders scored three runs in short order afterward, with a Gabby Spooner groundout creating the first opening before Keira Brogan and Anna Aey each had an RBI single to pull within a run.

Lakeview, though, quickly put some distance between itself and South Range in the bottom of the third, when Shaker, following a leadoff walk and Raiders infield error, belted a ball over the center-field fence for a three-run home run. One batter later, Cameryn Crepage relieved Sophia Brogan in the circle and finished out the inning without any more damage being done.

After a scoreless fourth inning, during which Stowe pulled off the first of a few successful back-picks to first base, South Range brought three across home plate in the fifth. Sophia Brogan drove in the first with a triple to right field before Aey took a Isenberg pitch to deep center for a two-run home run.

Much like they had done earlier, the Bulldogs gave themselves some breathing room with three more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Werner hit an RBI single early in the order, and Paige Schwartz also recorded a hit, leading to both Stowe and Isenberg scoring to go up 10-6. Lakeview grew its lead to five the following inning with a Werner RBI double off the top of the left-field fence.

The Raiders tried to mount a comeback and did ultimately score a pair of runs on a botched, two-out rundown, but the momentum and the game came to a sudden halt moments later with a final groundout.

“It’s always one of those tough ones. It’s a big NE8 Conference matchup,” Lakeview head coach Dave Kelm said. “Happy that we had a great senior in Isenberg, Stowe and that group. … Just all-around teamwork, put the ball in play and get some work done. This team is great. I love coaching them.”

Isenberg earned the win for Lakeview, which also used freshman Sophia Neilan in the circle for the final two innings. In five innings pitched, Isenberg allowed nine hits, six runs, one walk and struck out two. Neilan surrendered three hits, no earned runs and one walk, while striking out one batter.

On the other side, Sophia Brogan picked up the loss. She had one strikeout and allowed three hits, four earned runs and five walks in 2.1 innings. Crepage struck out one and recorded eight hits, four runs and two walks allowed.

“It’s not bad,” DeRose said of his pitchers’ performances. “You’re talking about girls [on Lakeview] who are going to move on to the next level. … Pitching wins games for the most part, but you can’t make errors and expect to win. I thought our pitching was fine. They just hit, it’s as simple as that.”

Monday’s game marked the first of three consecutive NE8 games scheduled for South Range (1-1, 1-1 NE8), which is set to host Struthers on Tuesday before visiting Poland on Wednesday.

Lakeview (4-1, 2-0 NE8) will travel to Myrtle Beach on Tuesday and will return to NE8 play on April 8 with a road game at Struthers.