BLANCHARD — Bethany’s offense struggled and the Bronchos dropped two games to Blanchard, 3-1 and 6-0, Thursday (Oct. 9) in the 4A Super Regional hosted by the Lions. The losses ended Bethany’s playoff run.

In the two games combined, Bethany was held to five hits.

“We just had a hard time putting any offense together,” Bethany coach Booker Blakley said via text. “I thought for the most part we gave ourselves chances defensively but Blanchard is a good team and took advantage of opportunities and we were unable to.”

Blakley talked to his squad about the accomplishments from this year’s team – milestones that previous Bethany teams were unable to achieve in recent years.

“They need to be proud of having that as part of their legacy,” Blakley said.

The Bronchos opened the season at 1-6, but finished at 19-13. They had a second-place finish behind Elk City in 4A District 2. Bethany also won its first regional title since 2011.

“Just a great group of kids on and off the field and they showed so much toughness and resiliency coming back from a slow start in the season to end up where they did. They showed that they belong with the best in our class.”

Blakely also praised his players who will be graduating in the spring.

“We have seven seniors that we will miss a lot. Their contributions go beyond the softball field and they are a very big reason that’s why we have had the success that we have had,” Blakley said.

BLANCHARD 3, BETHANY 1

While the Bronchos struggled to get base hits, they had baserunners. In the third inning, two walks and two passed balls plated a run as senior Madison Bibbs scored on the second passed ball.

Blanchard answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Lion sophomore Finley Lockwood capped off the scoring with a 2-run home run.

Bethany had base runners in every inning from there, but two double plays wiped out scoring opportunities.

Junior Emma Geissler led off the seventh inning with a single to center field. Blanchard freshman Rylee Black struck out the next two batters and got a fly out to end the game.

Bethany senior Paige Sechrist allowed seven hits and three runs over six innings. She walked a batter and struck out one.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Bethany (19-12)	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	1
Blanchard (27-7)	0	0	3	0	0	0	X	3	7	0

BLANCHARD 6, BETHANY 0

A 4-run fifth inning gave the Lions some breathing room and Bethany still couldn’t get runs across the plate.

The Lions had three triples back-to-back-to-back in the big inning.

The Bronchos had base runners in every inning with three walks, four hits and two Blanchard errors.

Geissler went 2-for-3 with a double. Madison Bibbs and junior Jules Barger each had a hit.

Senior Jayda Davis pitched a complete game. She allowed 11 hits and six runs (four of which were earned). Davis walked two batters.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Blanchard (28-7)	0	0	0	1	4	0	1	6	11	2
Bethany (19-13)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	4