Lawrence High players take a knee and gather as a team in right field after losing in the regional championship game to Olathe North Wednesday in Olathe.

Olathe ? Lawrence High’s softball team has struggled at preventing big innings from popping up every few games. There was no stopping the big innings against Olathe North on Wednesday night in the regional championship.

One game short of a trip to the Class 6A state tournament, the Lions were routed in a 14-3 loss at the Olathe District Activity Complex. They advanced to the regional finals after a 5-4 victory over Washburn Rural earlier in the afternoon.

The Lions, who lost three times to the Eagles this season, sent out three different pitchers in the first three innings, but none of them could stop the middle of Olathe North’s lineup. The Lions didn’t help themselves, issuing 10 walks and hitting three batters.

“That hurts,” LHS coach Joe Dee Tarbutton said. “You knew our goal and that’s where we wanted to be, but we were one game short.”

With the extra free passes, the Eagles (18-4) made the Lions pay with a few big hits. Following three straight walks in the second inning, O-North’s sophomore first baseman Alexis Hodapp hit a grand slam. Hodapp, the cleanup hitter, went 4-for-4 with seven RBIs and three runs.

“Their whole lineup is amazing but that three- and four-hole (Maddie McCracken and Hodapp) — I mean it’s almost scary how good they are,” LHS junior shortstop Sophie Taylor said.

The Lions (12-10) struggled to do much on offense against O-North starter Halle Brin. LHS senior Jolona Shield smashed a home run over the fence in right-center in the first inning, but the Lions were held to just five hits in five innings.

Sophomore Annie Grammer added a run in the second inning, drawing a walk, moving to third on a single by junior Brook Sumonja, and scoring on a bad throw from the catcher to the pitcher following a pitch. Junior Sami Mills also scored in the fifth inning, drilling a leadoff double and scoring on a wild pitch.

“It’s so tough,” senior third baseman Morgan Byrn said. “It’s definitely hard going down that quick. Last time we played them, we hit them hard. I felt like we had some hits, they just went right to them. It’s just really hard knowing you can hang with them and we didn’t.”

Taylor added: “It’s just frustrating because we all know we have potential to go all of the way. We’re right there with all of the Olathe teams. It’s definitely frustrating. But I think we had a good run this year.”

The Lions came back in dramatic fashion to advance to the regional championship. Trailing by a run and down to their last out in the top of the seventh inning, Taylor drilled a double past Washburn Rural’s shortstop into center field to tie the game. Taylor then scored on an RBI single from senior Kenzie Garvin.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Shield tossed a perfect frame, clinching Lawrence’s first regional win since 2011.

“That pitcher pitched outside almost every pitch and I was like, ‘Oh great. Here we go,'” said Taylor, who also hit a two-run inside-the-park homer in the second inning. “But I was like, ‘I’ve got to get a hit.’ It went through and I was happy.”

“It was huge,” Tarbutton added. “We were on top of the world.”

It was another bad inning that nearly cost the Lions against the Junior Blues. Washburn Rural scored four runs in the third inning, aided by three LHS errors.

However, Byrn drilled a two-out home run in the fifth inning, helping set the stage for the Lions’ comeback.

Tarbutton said it’ll be difficult replacing this year’s seniors — Byrn, Garvin, Shield and Megan Sumonja — after how well they’ve performed for the past few years.

“Like I told them, there will never be another four as good as those,” Tarbutton said. “We will have one or two that’s as good of athletes, but four at one time? I don’t see that happening again. I hope it does, but right now that was four good ones.”

Olathe North 14, Lawrence 3 (5 innings)

Lawrence 110 01 — 3 4 1

O-North 346 1x — 14 8 1

W — Hallie Brin. L — Megan Sumonja.

2B — Sami Mills, LHS. HR — Jolona Shield, LHS; Alexis Hodapp, ON.

LHS highlights — Shield, 1-for-2, run, RBI; Brook Sumonja, 1-for-1, 2 stolen bases; Mills, 1-for-1, run.

Lawrence 5, Washburn Rural 4

Lawrence 002 010 2 — 5 8 3

Washburn 004 000 0 — 4 3 0

W — Jolona Shield. L — Madison Roth.

2B — Taytum Carson, WR; Jolona Shield, Sami Mills, Sophie Taylor, LHS. HR — Taylor, Morgan Byrn, LHS.

LHS highlights — Morgan Byrn, 1-for-4, RBI, run; Taylor, 2-for-4, 3 RBI, 2 runs; Kenzie Garvin, 3-for-4, run, stolen base; Shield, 2-for-4, stolen base.