The Snowflake Lady Lobos advanced to the third round of the Division III state softball playoffs last Friday, which is where their season came to a close with a 6-3 loss to Payson.
Payson earned the right to play in the title game, where the Lady Longhorns were to have met up with Catalina Foothills in Tuesday’s championship game.
The Lobos entered the tournament seeded fourth overall and took care of 29th seeded Wickenburg in round one with a 3-1 win. Facing 13th seeded Bradshaw Mountain on Thursday, Snowflake overcame a seven-run third inning by the Lady Bears to defeat the lower seed 9-8 with two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Snowflake took the early lead with two runs in the first, but trailed by five runs after giving up the big third inning to Bradshaw. The Lobos didn’t trail for long, as they scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game at 7-7. That score remained through the next two innings before the Bears went on top 8-7 with one run in the top of the seventh. Batting as the home team with the higher seed, Snowflake took advantage, scoring twice in the bottom of the seventh to win the game and advance to the third round, where they came up short against Payson on Saturday.
In what turned out to be their final win of the season, the Lobos pounded out 11 hits led by Tori Flake, who went 3 for 3 with two home runs and four RBIs. Mikayla Hall was 2 for 3 with a double. Breklee Tanner drew a walk and later scored a run. Eilee Penrod was 1 for 4 with an RBI. Madison Butler went 1 for 3 with a two-run home run. Hallie Bauer went 1 for 3 with a double, three RBIs and scored once. Keltcee Hensley was 1 for 3 with a double and scored once. Shaelee Hensley went 1 for 4, and Bailey Standerfer was 1 for 3 and scored twice.
Flake earned her final high school win in the circle, where she faced 34 batters in seven innings of work. She allowed eight runs, only four earned, on six hits with five strikeouts and she walked four.
The Lobos wrapped up the season with an overall record of 24-6-1.
