Kallie McMahan is nothing if not optimistic. Lexington’s slow-pitch softball coach continues to find a silver lining on the season.

The Lady Bulldogs (2-13) have lost 11 straight games, including five games in five days by a combined score of 85-1.

“Obviously losing isn’t fun,” McMahan told The Register on Monday. “But with that being said, I saw a lot of good things. We’re playing right and we’re making the right decisions. We just have to stay patient and the success will come.”

To be fair, Lexington is a small school slow-pitch program playing a big school schedule and has been outclassed by most of its opponents.

“We should be 3A or 4A in slow pitch but due to us not making a team last year when they reclassed, they reclassed us into 5A,” McMahan said. “So, hopefully next year when we reclass again, we’ll drop.”

The Lady Bulldogs lost 15-0 to Class 4A No. 1 Dale on March 30; 20-0 to Class 6A No. 1 Choctaw on April 2; 17-0 to Class 4A No. 5 Valliant on April 2; and 10-0 to Class 5A No. 5 McLoud on April 3.

“I don’t think we’ve played a team that’s not ranked in some way or another,” McMahan said. “We have a very, very tough schedule.”

While the losses have been lopsided, McMahan views the level of competition as “beneficial.”

“I think it goes both ways,” she said. “I think it’s beneficial. On Friday when we played McLoud, we held them to three runs until the fourth inning. We played really well; we just couldn’t score.

“So, I think it’s beneficial to play these good teams to see what you’re capable of, like the good plays and when you hold ‘em in an inning ... you can see what you’re capable of. But I also think it’s beneficial to have those games that you know you can win for confidence.

McMahan is trying to schedule some more teams, but that’s easier said than done because several schools didn’t have enough players to field a slow-pitch team.

As of Tuesday, Lexington was looking for a Senior Night opponent, McMahan said.

The Lady Dawgs, meanwhile, do not have a game scheduled this week.

“It’s prom week, and I try to stay away from that with high school girls,” she said.