Pam Pine was bumming and bloody after Thursday’s doubleheader against Olathe North.

Free State senior Amy Vormehr laced a line drive off her coach’s right foot during pregame batting practice, ripping off part of Pine’s toenail.

Free State's Ashley Wagner delivers a pitch against Olathe North. North swept the Firebirds in a doubleheader Thursday at Free State.

“I guess I’m not as quick as I use to be,” said a hobbling Pine, who took it all in stride and dutifully displayed where Vormehr’s shot had blown through the front of her worn Nikes.

Things didn’t get any better for Pine and her team once the games actually started. North swept the Firebirds, 3-0 and 6-3 at Free State.

While Pine wasn’t happy about being swept or the pain in her foot, she said there were significant gains in the Firebirds’ play since their season-opener two days earlier.

“I saw a lot of improvement,” said Pine, whose team fell to 0-4.

“Defensively we played real well.”

But for the second time in as many outings, Free State’s bats were all but silenced by opposing pitchers in the first game.

After gathering only one hit Tuesday against Shawnee Mission West pitchers, the Firebirds managed five hits Thursday including three in the bottom of the seventh inning of the second game when the Firebirds seemed poised for a rally.

After falling 3-0 to O-North (2-4) in the first game thanks to Eagle pitcher Lindsey Ruddick’s eight-strikeout performance the Firebirds scored their first run of the season in the second inning of the nightcap.

Ashley Wagner reached on an error with one out before Kasey Asher fell victim to another strikeout. But sophomore Lacey Baxter smacked a double to bring in Wagner, cutting the deficit to 4-1.

The Firebirds allowed the Eagles two more runs but closed the game with two runs of their own in the seventh.

Wagner again reached base, this time on a single, before Asher and Baxter followed with singles of their own to score the final two runs of the game. But any chance of a rally quickly ended there as a flyout and strikeout sealed O-North’s victory.

Still Pine, who spent the second game with her green windbreaker wrapped around her tightly bandaged toe, was impressed with the comeback effort and her team’s continued improvement.

“I was proud of how they continued to battle and thought they showed a lot to keep coming after it,” she said. “Our daily goal is to keep getting better and I think we did that again.”

Olathe North 3, Free State 0

Olathe North (1-4) 000 101 1 3 3 2

Free State (0-3) 000 000 0 0 1 4

Lindsey Ruddick and McKenzie Maghnheimer. Ashley Wagner and Kasey Asher. WP Ruddick. LP Wagner (0-2). HR Whitney Schmidt.

Olathe North 6, Free State 3

Olathe North (2-4) 400 101 0 6 5 3

Free State (0-4) 010 000 2 3 4 3

Whitney Schmidt and McKenzie Maghnheimer. Lacey Baxter and Kasey Asher. WP Schmidt. LP Baxter (0-1). 2B Baxter.