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Webster City 001 000 0-1 4 0

Jefferson-Scranton 001 001 x-2 5 2

Kaitlyn Biere and Jessica O'Connell. Laura Neal and Kayla Promes. W-Neal. L-Biere. 2B-J-S: Alison Ranck.

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WEBSTER CITY - Call is a swoon, a slump, a slide, a skid - whatever. Head coach Jessica Kastler tried to figure out the remedy and she came up empty.

And now it's over.

Webster City's once-promising softball season ended with two weeks of disappointment, capped by Saturday's Class 3A Region 2 quarterfinal-round loss to Jefferson-Scranton, 2-1, at Lynx Field.

Riding a six-game win streak and sitting at 15-7 following the Forest City Invitational on June 26, the Lynx dropped six of their last seven games including the final five in succession to finish at 16-13 overall.

The downward spiral began with a 1-0 loss in 8 innings to Fort Dodge St. Edmond on June 28, and although the Lynx beat Clarion-Goldfield, 10-0, two nights later, they were never able to get back on track.

"I don't know what happened because we went a week without a loss, but then there was a domino effect after that St. Edmond game," Kastler said following Saturday's loss. "I don't know if something happened or what the deal was, but we were never able to regain anything."

Saturday's final setback was a microcosm of the entire season. Not enough offense put the burden on freshman pitcher Kaitlyn Biere to carry the team into the next round, but Jefferson-Scranton had other plans.

Trailing 1-0 after 2 1?2 innings, the Rams (18-13) tied the game in the last half of the third inning with an unearned run on a passed ball, and they cemented their spot in the regional semifinal with the winning run in the sixth inning.

Rams' speedy lead-off hitter Jennifer Kennedy slapped her second hit of the game - a floater that fell just out of the reach of a diving Kelsey Brown at shortstop - to put the wheels in motion in the sixth inning. She stole second and with two outs came around to score on a base hit back up the middle by Kayla Stein.

Biere surrendered just five hits and one walk while striking out six.

"Kaitlyn threw well," Kastler said. "She hit her spots, but they just put the bat on the ball and got a couple of key hits when they needed them."

Webster City was limited to four hits - all singles - by Jefferson-Scranton right-hander Laura Neal. The Lynx lone run came on Mikaela Pruismann's push-bunt single past the right side of the Rams' drawn-in infield, and it allowed courtesy runner Abbey Fuhs to race around from second. Fuhs was running for Biere, who reached on an error.

Webster City tried to mount a last-inning charge, and once again it was Fuhs who stood in scoring position at third base when Neal got Jessica O'Connell to ground out to end the game.

Kelsey Brown, Grace Nelson and Biere added the Lynx other hits.

"I don't know what it was because (Neal) is a lot like most of the pitchers we have in our conference," Kastler said. "But at the same time we don't score a lot of runs. We usually win because of our defense, so it's just one of those things where you have to be on every night."

Despite the struggles late in the season, the summer wasn't without its bright moments for the Lynx. They grabbed a second straight runner-up finish in the North Central Conference, and they lose only three players - Pruismann, Kristine Smith and Kelsey Haren - to graduation.

"(The players) have to be proud of getting second in the conference," Kastler said. "Hopefully they'll use that as motivation for next year."