And Auburn capitalized immediately.

Lead-off batter Addison Jones walked and went to second on a sacrifice bunt. Meena Taylor then dropped a single into center, driving in Jones with the first run of the game. But the inning was far from over.

Piper Taylor walked and Addison Wheatley lined a pitch to left. St. Anthony’s Laney Coffin made a good effort to catch the ball, but it glanced off her glove and rolled to the fence, bringing in one run.

After a strikeout, Skylar Meats was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Izzy Carlisle grounded a base hit between first and second, driving home two more and capping the four-run inning.

Auburn came right back in the second inning and added to its lead. Jones started things again, this time with a base hit, and came around to score on a double by Taylor Patterson. Before the inning was over, Mailee Schoen and Meats added RBI singles to increase the lead to 7-0.

“Auburn is a good hitting team,” Taylor noted. “They hit the ball hard, but we weren’t hitting our spots. We threw too many pitches down the middle and they hit our mistakes.”

The Lady Bulldogs stirred a little excitement among the St. Anthony fans in the top of the fourth. With two outs, Abbi Hatton hit a pitch down the leftfield line for a double and Sydney Kibler followed with a blast that sailed over the fence in right-centerfield fence for a home run, trimming the deficit to 7-2.

But the Lady Trojans responded in the bottom of the frame. With one out, they strung together four straight hits, including a two-run double by Schoen that regained the seven-run spread, making it 9-2.

Then in the sixth, Wheatley belted a home run, followed by a single by Schoen and a double by Meats. Both runners scored on a throwing error that ended the game.

Auburn finished with 16 hits, while St. Anthony had six.

“We’re a team that always has a lot of fight,” Taylor said. “We just weren’t picking the right pitches to swing at. We were popping up a lot. The girls really wanted to hit the ball. I think they were overly anxious.”

Sydney Kibler took the loss for the Lady Bulldogs. She pitched into the second inning when Wernsing came on in relief and went the rest of the way.

It was a disappointing ending to a season that featured a 29-4 record. But it doesn’t take away from the brilliant four-year career enjoyed by this group of seniors. These seven girls – Addie Wernsing, Hailey Niebrugge, Abbi Hatton, Sydney Kibler, Maddie Kibler, Stacie Vonderheide and Laney Coffin – combined their efforts and talents to win 101 games over the past four seasons.

“I coached these girls in junior high, so I had an idea of what was to come,” Taylor said. “They’ve had a fantastic career. Over 100 wins. I’d say that’s a pretty good career.”