The third time was anything but a charm for the Hays Storm on Sunday in the Kansas Amateur Softball Assn.’s girls 14-under Class C state tournament.

Playing their third straight game in heat that reached 101 degrees, the Storm lost the championship game, 8-4, to the Derby Twisters.

Derby pitcher Shaina Brock throws a strike during the championship game of the Kansas Amateur Softball Assn.'s girls 14-under state tournament. The Twisters defeated the Hays Storm, 8-4, Sunday evening at Clinton Lake Sports Complex.

“The heat was really tough,” Storm coach Keith Dechant said. “It got to quite a few teams and it started to get to us. Sometimes it seems like the heat evens itself out if you keep playing, but we definitely had some problems with the heat.”

The Storm had already lost to the Twisters, 4-0, in the winner’s bracket final.

“We didn’t play them as well as I thought we did in the second game,” Dechant said of the shutout loss. “They just have a lot of hitters and my hat’s off to them. They’re a great team.”

The Twisters took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning of the championship, scoring on back-to-back groundouts after an error, a wild pitch and a dropped third strike.

Hays cut the deficit in half in the top of the second, with Jayleen Reed scoring on an error by Derby second baseman Shani Hanson.

The Storm took the lead with two runs in the top of the third. Ashley Antrim and Kelsey Robben led off the inning with back-to-back singles the first hits of the game for either team and scored on another error by Hanson and a groundout.

“They’re a very good ballclub,” Derby coach Fred Heston said. “They played us tough the first game and came back this game and took the lead, but my girls don’t know the word ‘quit.'”

Derby's Shani Hanson prepares to break for home during the girls softball 14-under state championship Sunday evening at Clinton Lake Sports Complex.

The Twisters regained the lead in the bottom of the inning, also leading off with consecutive singles by Kali Kercher and Hanson. Both scored on an error by Hays second baseman Robben to give Derby a 3-2 lead.

Derby scored four more runs in the fifth to put the game out of reach.

Just three of the game’s 12 runs were earned as the teams combined for 10 errors.

“I think we were tired,” Dechant said. “We did have a lot of errors that we normally don’t have.”

Heston said his players had taken precautions against the heat, including salt tablets and minimizing their time in the sun.

“They just sat in the dugout and cooled off,” he said, “and watched what the other teams were doing and then they just capitalized.

“I’m proud of every one of them. I can’t say enough about them. They don’t quit. They have the ability, the desire and they’ve got the heart.”

In other action, the Salina Bombers placed third in the tournament, losing a 12-2 run-rule game to the Storm in the losers’ bracket final. The Topeka Red Hot Chili Peppers placed fourth after losing, 8-6, to the Bombers in the losers’ bracket.

The McPherson Lady Express Black defeated the Junction City Lady Jays, 7-0, in the Silver Division championship. The Silver Division features teams that lost in the first two rounds of the tournament.

Derby Twisters 8, Hays Storm 5

Hays 012 001 10 4 5 5

Derby 202 040 0x 8 7 5

WShaina Brock. LMollie Webster.

2BStorm: Mallory Wellbrook.