GLENVILLE &045; If her team keeps hitting the ball like it has been, Glenville-Emmons softball coach Lisa Ziebell feels the Wolverines can be quite competitive come tournament time.

But they need to play better defense than they did Thursday.

The Wolverines had eight errors while lost 8-7 to Houston in a Southeast Conference game at Glenville.

“You can’t have that many errors,” said Ziebell. “We’re hitting. You can’t complain about 13 hits. We just had a very slow start, and way too many errors.”

The Hurricanes took advantage of errors to score single runs in the second and third innings.

It was back and forth from there.

The Wolverines scored once in the third and tied it in the bottom of the fourth. The Hurricanes plated three in the fifth, and the Wolverines answered with three in the sixth.

It was decided in the seventh, when an error let the leadoff batter on base. A single followed and, one out later, a hit batter loaded the bases. Melanie Cox followed with a bases-clearing double to put Houston up 8-5.

But the Wolverines weren’t finished. Mallory Paulson led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, and Megan Bjorklund added a one-out single. An Ellen Hansen bunt scored Paulson and turned into a single, and Becky Anderson followed with a run-scoring single.

Jenna Brackey almost won it for the Wolverines, but her shot down the left field line was foul by inches. A ground out ended it.

“It was disappointing,” said Ziebell. “It was the type of pitcher the girls like, and they could have just teed off. But we had just faced a faster pitcher and it took us a while to adjust. I hope the girls keep their heads up. We were coming off prom week, and it took a while to get back in the swing of things.”

Jenna Brackey pitched all seven innings, allowing six earned runs on 10 hits. She struck out four and walked one.

The Wolverines had four walks and two strikeouts to go along with 13 hits.

Anderson was 3-for-4, Bjorklund 2-for-3, Alisa Rayman 2-for-3, Jenna Brackey 2-for-4. Adding one hit each were Katie Brackey, Kelly Yost, Paulson and Becky Ericksen. Anderson, Jenna Brackey, Rayman, Ericksen and Hansen drove in runs.

The Wolverines, 5-3 overall, evened their SEC record at 3-3, the same as Houston.

The Wolverines travel to face LeRoy-Ostrander/Grand Meadow on Monday.