By: Nate Calvin
NEW RIEGEL – Making their first regionals appearance in school history, Bryan was unable to take advantage of an early scoring opportunity as they fell 4-0 to Lexington in the Division II regional semifinals.
Ella Voigt drew a walk and Marlee Yoder slapped an infield single to third to start the game as Bryan had two on with no outs in their first at-bat.
Lady Lex starting pitcher Jillian Bammann worked out of the jam though by getting two groundouts and a pop out to end the Bryan threat.
Bryan would get the leadoff batter on base in the second inning as Kierstyn Beherns opened the inning with a double down the right field line.
Bammann once again responded by striking out the next three Bryan hitters to end the inning.
Lexington struck first in the bottom of the third with leadoff hitter Camryn Campbell reaching on an error.
Campbell would work her way to third after a successful sacrifice bunt and scored on an RBI single by Bammann to give Lexington a 1-0 lead.
Lexington again used small ball to score a run in the fourth as Kaylie Eichorn started things by reaching on an error.
A pair of bunt singles, a sacrifice bunt, and a sacrifice fly to left field by Campbell eventually scored Eichorn to give Lexington a 2-0 lead.
The fifth inning saw Lexington put the first two batters on board as Bammann would double to center and Jillian Morr layed down another bunt single for the Lady Lex.
With Bammann now at third, Morr would draw a throw as she stole second which allowed Bammann to score and make it 3-0.
Eichorn would then get an RBI groundout to second for the first out of the inning as Morr scored to increase the lead to 4-0.
The Golden Bears mounted one more challenge in the sixth as Yoder and Addie Arnold had back-to-back singles to force a Lexington pitching change.
New pitcher Kylie Galownia then slammed the door on Bryan with two strikeouts and then induced a groundout by Behrens as Lexington escaped the inning.
Galownia struck out the side in the seventh to close out the game, as she struck out five of the six Lady Bears she faced in relief.
BRYAN 000 000 0 – 0 5 3
LEXINGTON 001 120 x – 4 9 0
Records: Bryan 16-7, Lexington 22-4
WINNING PITCHER: Bammann (5 innings, 5 hits, 0 runs, 8 strikeouts, 2 walks) OTHER: Galownia
LOSING PITCHER: Arnold (6 innings, 11 hits, 4 runs, 2 earned, 4 strikeouts, 3 walks)
LEADING HITTERS: (Lexington) Bammann-double, single, RBI; Moeglin- 2 singles; (Bryan) Yoder-2 singles; Voigt-double; Beherns-double
Nate can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com