Tigers knocked out of playoffs

OTHELLO - The season came down to one game for Ephrata softball. Beat Grandview at a neutral site in a loser out game Saturday in Othello and advance to round two. Lose and go home.

Unfortunately, it was the latter for the Tigers as they lost the game 7-3 to the Greyhounds.

"They started off strong with three runs in the first inning, but we stayed in the game mentally," coach JoElle Malone said. "We knew we needed to produce runs to stay with them, but unfortunately our bats didn't come alive. When they did, we hit the ball right at someone."

The Greyhounds pushed the score to 7-0 in the top of the fifth inning.  

Ephrata closed the gap to 7-2 with two runs in the bottom of the frame.

The Tigers could've score a couple more runs in the inning as they had runners on the corners with two outs, but Katie Allen stuck out to end the threat.

The score held up until the bottom of the seventh when Ephrata threatened again.

The Tigers brought a runner across the plate to make it 7-3, but with two outs and two on base, Lauren Laird grounded out to end the inning and the season for Ephrata.

"We had seven errors in the game and that really hurt us as we gave up too many unearned runs," Malone said. "Despite the loss, I thought we finished the season strong holding each other accountable ... and that's a good starting point for next season."