After fighting to get into the postseason, the Bowie softball team fell to mighty Brock in their first round series in two games, making the Lady Eagles work for it in the last one.
After falling behind early and losing 9-3 at Brock in the first game on Friday, the Lady Rabbits played a tight second game at home on Saturday to try to force a third game. The Lady Eagles were able to take the lead in the seventh inning to win 2-1 and win the series.
Bowie came into the series knowing they would have to play their best to have a chance to beat a state ranked team who won their district handedly.
In Friday’s game, Brock was able to get a lead in the bottom of the second inning. With two outs, the Lady Eagles were able to turn four hits and a walk into a 4-0 lead before the Lady Rabbits could force the third out.
Bowie answered back in the top of the third. Emily Cox led off with a bunt. Due to an error by the pitcher, Cox was allowed to reach second. Two batters later, Taylor McCarty was able to get her home with a double to right field. Two batters later, Callie Melton was able to drive McCarty in with a single to cut the lead down to 4-2.
Unfortunately, the Lady Rabbits defense could not keep Brock down in the next three innings.
The Lady Eagles led off the third with a double they were able get home to extend their lead to 5-2. In fourth inning, Brock loaded the bases. With two outs, a hit batter and a single scored three runs to push the lead to 8-2.
In the fifth, a one out single was moved to second on a ground out. Again with two outs, the Lady Eagles found a way to get her home with a single the next at bat to push the lead to 9-2.
Bowie was able to cut the lead down a little in the sixth inning. A leadoff walk by Melton, followed by a drawn walk from Kylie Fleming put two runners on base with one out. Gracie Bentley put down a bunt and Brock again had trouble fielding it as an error allowed Melton to score from second to cut the lead down to 9-3.
Bentley was able to steal second to put two runners in scoring position with only one out. Unfortunately, the next batter struck out and Bentley was picked off at second to end the inning.
The Lady Rabbits ended up losing the first game 9-3.
Game two was played at Bowie on Saturday. The stands were packed with home support as the Lady Rabbits hoped to win so they could force a game three right afterwards.
It was a different game as both defenses were locked in. With Brock scoring a lot of their runs with two outs the previous night, Bowie focused on closing innings out.
They faced an early test in the top of the first. With two outs, the Lady Eagles hit back-to-back singles that put runners at the corners. Luckily, pitcher Maylie Short was able to force a line out to center field to get out of the inning.
Neither team had much luck in the second inning as individual hits or base runners were kept isolated. Brock was able to get runners at the corners with one out. They tried to steal home and second, but the Lady Rabbits were able to get the runner out at home.
The other runner eventually stole third and the next batter drew a walk and stole second to put two runners in scoring position. Fortunately, Short was able to strike out the next batter to keep the game scoreless.
Bowie was able to strike first in the bottom of the third inning. A leadoff bunt from Ketchum allowed her to get on base. She was able to get worked around the bases with a passed ball and a ground out allowing her to end up on third. Next batter McCarty was able to get her home with single to give them a 1-0 lead.
Each team was able to get one runner on base in the fourth inning, but they did not lead to anything as the game went into the fifth inning.
With one out, Brock showed their power the batter hit a ball deep to right field. The ball took a weird bounce that allowed the runner to hit an inside the park home run that tied the game up at 1-1.
It was the only hit of the inning as Bowie worked through the next two batters easily. A drawn walk from the Lady Rabbits with one out did not lead to anything as the game went into the sixth inning.
The Lady Eagles looked primed to take the lead in the top of the sixth. Back-to-back singles led off the inning. The next batter grounded into a fielder’s choice, but a single loaded the bases up with only one out.
Kalee Case came in to pitch and try to get Bowie out of the jam. She forced the next batter to ground into a fielder’s choice as they got the out at home.
The next drew a full count, but Case struck her out looking to get out of inning with the score still tied 1-1.
The Lady Rabbits could not get anything going as the game moved into the seventh inning.
Brock was able to leadoff the inning with a single. A sacrifice bunt was able to move the runner into scoring position. The next batter then hit a hard ground ball to left field that was able to score the runner and give the Lady Eagles their first lead of the game 2-1.
Bowie tried to answer back, but could not get a base runner on as the game ended.

To read more, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.