The Saint Jo Lady Panthers softball season came to an end on Friday as they lost to Blum in a double-header playoff series.
The Lady Panthers lost both games by run-rule as the Lady Cats won 19-5 and 16-2.
Saint Jo was coming off its first playoff series win in program history against Bryson the previous week. Blum was going to be a different story as the Lady Cats were one of the top ranked teams in the state in 1A.
The Lady Cats showed it by scoring nine runs in the top of the first inning in game one. Saint Jo got two of the runs back with Payzlie Cervantes and Maxey Johnson driving in a runs with singles.
It was not enough to keep up with the hot bats from Blum. The Lady Cats scored 10 runs during the next three innings before Saint Jo’s offense could score again.
Taylor Patrick led off with a single, advanced to second after a hit batter and then stole third base before a dropped third strike allowed her to score one run.
The Lady Panthers held Blum to no runs in the fifth inning, but needed to score seven runs in order to avoid getting run ruled.
Mercedes Diaz led off and got on base by getting hit by a pitch. Nevaeh Spann then hit a single and Diaz advanced to third base. She later came in to score a run by stealing home.
Several batters later with the bases loaded, Johnson hit a single that drove in one run.
Two groundouts followed to end the game, Blum winning 19-5 after five innings.
Johnson led the team with two hits and two RBIs while Cervantes and Skidmore each drove in one run.
Saint Jo had to dust off the game and play game two 30 minutes later.

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