Lady Jays fall to top-seeded Bruins

A wild season came to an end Thursday for the Jefferson City softball team, and as might be expected, did so in a wild game.

The Lady Jays looked to be on their way to a loss by the run rule after giving up nine runs to Rock Bridge in the first three innings of a semifinal contest in the Class 4 District 9 Tournament.

But the Lady Jays scored the only other runs of the contest and made the Lady Bruins play the full seven innings before falling 9-2 at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.

"I call this season The Screaming Eagle," Jefferson City coach Lisa Dey said. "We rode the roller coaster the whole year.

"We were up and down, up and down. We had a good ballgame last night (beating Hickman 9-3 in the first round), then tonight, you hate to end the season on a differential like we did and not playing a good, solid game."

The Lady Bruins showed why they're the top seed in the tournament, as they pounded out 12 hits, including back-to-back solo home runs in the second inning.

The Lady Bruins actually opened the scoring with three runs in the bottom of the first on three straight doubles and an RBI single. All of the runs scored after there were two outs.

"I think defensive-wise, I had the kids in the right spot outside of once," Dey said. "And then when it rained, it poured."

The pouring came in the second when Rock Bridge scored five runs, with the final three being unearned after the two homers.

"It was uncharacteristic," Dey said of her team's defensive effort.

The Lady Bruins got the 9-0 lead with their final run in the third, before the Lady Jays scored two in the top of the fourth.

Erin Romph led off with a single, the second of her two hits, and Maddie Washington followed with a double, and both scored on a double by Brailee Schulte.

"The score was the killer at that point, it was going to be hard to fight back," Dey said. "If it was 3- nothing, or 4-nothing, it might have been different."

The Lady Jays had four of their six hits in that inning and never seriously threatened to score again.

"Do I want to be done? No," Dey said. "But we got beat tonight. We got outplayed."

Schulte took the loss for the Lady Jays, as she threw a complete game and allowed six earned runs while striking out three.

The Lady Jays, who end the year with a record of 17-10, will graduate just three seniors - Romph, Jenna Karr and Hillary Mills.

Rock Bridge, which improved to 25-3 with the win, will play Helias at 6 p.m. today for the championship.