Topeka ? For five innings Wednesday afternoon, Olathe North’s softball hitters couldn’t figure out a way to get a run across home plate.

Lawrence High sophomore pitcher Zoe Brewer and the Lions’ defense combined to eliminate even the most certain opportunities, and the favored Eagles trailed by a run with just six outs remaining.

What came next for O-North, however, erased Lawrence’s earlier potency. Junior Alexis Hodapp and senior Courtney Nemechek smacked back-to-back home runs, as the Eagles scored all of their runs in the sixth inning of a 4-1 regional semifinal victory.

“With a team that hits like that with those middle hitters,” LHS coach Joe Dee Tarbutton said of O-North, which finished third in the Sunflower League, “you know you never can relax until the end of a game.”

Brewer retired 11 straight batters during a stretch from the second inning to the fifth at Washburn Rural High and only allowed three hits before the sixth. That’s when the Eagles finally broke through and ended the Lions’ season, with a leadoff single from senior Julia Keating, a game-tying RBI double from sophomore Madison Stipsits, a monster two-run homer to dead center off Hodapp’s bat and another blast, courtesy of Nemechek.

In the regular season, Hodapp hit .596, led the Sunflower League with eight home runs and drove in 33 runs.

“Zoe threw an awesome game,” Tarbutton said of his young starter, “and we couldn’t ask for anything more out of her. You know, those hitters, they took those balls that were maybe up a little bit and just drove them outta here.”

LHS (9-12) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth, following senior Sami Mills’ one-out single through the right side of O-North’s infield. After Mills advanced to second on a passed ball, senior Amber Flummerfelt (2-for-3) delivered an RBI single with two outs.

Senior shortstop Sophie Taylor said the Lions’ defense in the postseason opener gave them a chance at advancing.

“We’ve hit this pitcher well before,” Taylor said after senior Halle Brin limited LHS to four hits in seven innings. “If we kept a strong defense we’d be able to hang with them. And our defense has been pretty solid all season.”

Lawrence’s biggest strength kept O-North scoreless most of the game, including in the first inning. Although junior Kayla Peak delivered an early, one-out double to the right-field gap, a perfect relay allowed LHS sophomore catcher Morgan Husman to tag Stipsits out at the plate — “And I got trucked,” Husman pointed out.

“I think we just connect really well, and that’s why we all are so in line together and we make those plays,” the catcher added. “It’s always fun when we do stuff like that.”

Later, Taylor dove to snag an inning-ending line drive in the second. In the bottom of the fourth, junior right fielder Rhiannon Emerson robbed O-North of two hits with her speed and range.

Said Tarbutton: “She has just been better and better and better… Our entire defense fought hard. I’m really proud of them.”

Lawrence 000 100 0 — 1 4 1

O-North 000 040 x — 4 7 1

W — Halle Brin. L — Zoe Brewer.

2B — Kayla Peak, Madison Stipsits, O-North. HR — Alexis Hodapp, Curtney Nemechek O-North.

LHS highlights — Amber Flummerfelt, 2-for-3, RBI; Sami Mills, 1-for-3, R; Morgan Husman, 1-for-3.