PIEDMONT -- Call it a curse or just plain bad luck, but the Clearwater Lady Tigers can't seem to tame the Bulldogs.
West County led throughout and put the clamps on a Clearwater rally late to beat the Lady Tigers 8-2 on Monday and end their season in the MSHSAA Class 1 state playoffs for the third time in four seasons.
"They're a good team and they just keep coming. It seems to keep happening in this game," Clearwater coach Shannon England said. "I'm not ready to call it a curse because West County has had to beat some good teams after us to get to two straight final fours, but we unfortunately run into them every year and they seem to have our number or we just have bad luck against them."
Clearwater (13-7) trailed 4-0 and had one hit heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.
Cheyanne Burton reached on an error to begin the frame and advanced to third on Halle Gooch's second double of the game. After a strikeout, Tabbie Carroll rolled a grounder to third allowing Burton to score Clearwater's first run.
Amy Holmes followed with an RBI-bloop single over West County shortstop Ivy Meinershogen's head to cut the lead in half and give the Lady Tigers some hope.
"Honestly, going into the seventh, I thought we were going to win," England said. "I honestly believed in my heart we could pull it out because of the way we had battled through adversity and held them so close."
West County (15-3) had other plans as the Bulldogs scratched out four more runs to put the game out of reach.
Bulldogs' starter RikkiLyn Wright helped herself by leading off with a single and advancing to third on Erica Barton's one-out hit. Meinershogen followed with a bunt that was fielded by Gooch in the pitcher's circle and thrown home in attempt to get Wright, who instead slid back into third to load the bases. Tristin Martin then dealt a devastating blow to the Lady Tigers with a two-run double to left field to push the advantage to 6-2.
Clearwater appeared to get out No. 2 when Carroll picked up Allee Brennan's grounder at third base and fired home to get Meinershogen, but the ball was dropped by Burton. Makenzie Simily added an RBI groundout one batter later to set the final score.
"It was kind of how the whole day went," England said of the seventh. "One step in, or just being a step closer and holding onto the ball on the play at the plate would've gone a long way. They didn't hit the ball too hard against us, there were just a lot of little things that allowed them to capitalize and score."
Clearwater also had to overcome a pitcher that has had its number in each of the previous four postseason meetings. Wright, a John A. Logan College commit, took a no-hitter into the fourth and finished with six strikeouts. She used 11 pitches to work a 1-2-3 seventh as the Lady Bulldogs punched their ticket to the quarterfinals for the fourth consecutive season.
"Quite honestly that was the best pitcher we've seen all year," England said of Wright. "I don't think there's any pitcher we face that can move it and throw extremely hard like she does."
West County's offense backed her by pouncing on the Lady Tigers early as Haylee Watson doubled with one out in the top of the first and traded places with Meinershogen for a 1-0 lead. Meinershogen stole third and scored on Martin's single one batter later.
After working a 1-2-3 second inning, Gooch, Clearwater's starter, gave up two more runs aided by a lapse on defense.
Wright reached with a leadoff error and eluded a tag as she stole second before Watson, who was 2 for 3, drove her in with a single off Gooch. Barton added an RBI double for a 4-0 lead.
Gooch broke up Wright's no-hitter with a double to lead off the fourth but was stranded at third in Clearwater's first attempt to get on the board. The junior was 2 for 3 and finished with three strikeouts in the circle.
Though things didn't go Clearwater's way throughout the rest of the game, England said his team is better prepared to get over the hump next season. The Lady Tigers will lose two key assets in seniors Mag E Hand and Jordan Fuchs but return seven starters.
"We know how to play with them, we're not caught off guard by them at all, it's just a matter of being better than them on that day," England said. "After the game I told the girls, 'it's our job moving forward to return the favor on their home field next year.'"