Staff photo / Neel Madhavan Poland’s Leanna Boccieri flies a ball deep to center field during Friday’s game against LaBrae in Leavittsburg.

LEAVITTSBURG — Errors and mistakes at inopportune times proved to be Poland’s undoing on Friday against LaBrae.

The Bulldogs led by four runs in the middle of the fifth inning, but the Vikings’ bats finally came alive in the bottom of the frame, as they rallied to hand Poland an 8-5 defeat in Leavittsburg.

“They come in at the bottom of the fifth, roll the top of the order over and get some momentum. Then we make mistakes, stupid mistakes, and I think they got four unearned runs,” Bulldogs coach Jim Serich said. “So when you don’t play clean against a good team, and you don’t take advantage of the momentum you have, that’s going to be the result.

“Just some of the little things we’re still not doing right, still not doing some things well that we need to do. Hopefully they fix it. We’re halfway, a little more than halfway through the year, I would hope we play a little more clean, but that’s on them. They’ll figure it out.”

Poland (8-7, 4-2 NE-8) got things started early. In the top of the first, the Bulldogs got back-to-back doubles to score the game’s first run, as Ali Blinsky’s RBI scored Cassie Blanch.

The Bulldogs then added three runs to their lead in the top of the fourth inning with an RBI base hit from Kilaney Berendt and freshman Brooklyn Kosco’s first career home run shortly thereafter.

LaBrae (8-2, 5-1 MVAC-Grey) pulled a run back in the bottom of the frame on a single from Madison Johnon, but Poland stretched its lead back to 5-1 in the top of the fifth as a run scored when Blinsky reached on an error.

The Vikings had three hits in the fourth inning, but only got one run out of it. However, in the bottom of the fifth, LaBrae began to convert on its momentum at the plate.

“Those bats are there all the time, so we’re never out of a game, and that’s a great feeling,” Vikings coach Dwayne Buck said.

Riley Rowe started the Vikings’s rally off with a lead-off solo home run to begin the inning. Then after a hit from Shebly Bragg, Mariah Jones blasted the Vikings’ second homer of the inning directly over the center-field fence.

“Their pitcher was doing a good job, and we were hitting it hard here and there, just hitting it right at them,” Buck said. “So I had a feeling it was going to come. I knew they could do it, but seeing it come through and actually happen and come back all the way to take the lead there is huge. That momentum is huge for us going forward as we’re getting closer and closer to the playoffs.”

After Blinsky made way for Madison Medvec in the circle for Poland, the Vikings kept things going. With two outs on the board, Leah DeArmitt scored from third and Johnson scored from second off an RBI from Makenzie Lichty. Those five runs gave LaBrae a 6-5 lead after five innings.

“If you don’t fix the little things, they compound in the big innings,” Serich said. “You have a chance to get out of innings, and we don’t. We throw the ball behind a runner and throw it into the dugout to move the runners. You can’t do those things.”

Riley Rowe pitched the first four innings for LaBrae, but she made way for DeArmitt in the top of the fifth.

Poland scored one run on an error when DeArmitt faced her first hitter, but from there, she was lights out, keeping the Bulldogs scoreless the rest of the way, while striking out four.

“Leah has been great all year, and Riley’s really been starting to get her momentum going. It’s a really good problem to have,” Buck said. “I truly have two No. 1 pitchers. We pretty much alternate starts. Sometimes they finish, sometimes we bring them in. We’re not afraid to bring either one in at any time.”

The Vikings added two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth to give themselves a comfortable cushion to close things out, as Jones and DeArmitt both scored on a throwing error at first base with two outs.

“A one-run lead versus a three-run lead, you play the game completely different, right? So it’s huge,” Buck said. “I preach all the time, especially when we’re at home, if we’ve got a lead in the bottom of the sixth, I don’t care if we’re up by one, three or eight. I tell them, we’ve gotta get an insurance run. Just give me one run. One run can make all the difference. … We almost didn’t get it, but we came through at the end … and that made the top of the seventh a whole lot easier.”

Next up, LaBrae is scheduled to host Hubbard this morning at 11 a.m., while Poland will also host Springfield at 11 a.m.