MONTGOMERY — The Demopolis softball team’s run through the 5A South Central Regional Tournament ended Saturday with a 13-4 loss to Beauregard.

The game marked the third of the day and fourth of the regional for a Demopolis team that came within two wins of qualifying for the state tournament.

DHS opened the day in the winners’ bracket against eventual tournament winner Briarwood Christian.

“I feel like we did a good job keeping it close on them,” Demopolis head coach Joey Browder said of a tightly-contested affair that saw BCHS pull away late for a 5-1 lead. “There were a couple of close plays at the plate. What matters is that we played hard and we left it all on the field.”

After a one-game layoff, Demopolis took the field again when it faced Valley. The Lady Tigers loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning before failing to score. In the second inning, Valley mounted a threat of its own when it put runners on first and third with no outs.

Demopolis quickly squelched the threat in the next at-bat when third baseman Brooke Bryant plucked a bunt attempt out of the air and threw to first where Kristin Beach caught the ball and tagged the bag to force the second out of the play before throwing home to Carly Latham, who applied the tag for the final leg of the triple play.

“The triple play was a head’s up lay and that was the momentum shifter in that game,” Browder said. “Everybody kind of forgot about being tired and it kind of sparked us back up. That was the momentum swinger in that game.”

Demopolis struck for the first of its eight runs in its next at-bat on the way to an 8-2 victory.

After dispatching of Valley, the Lady Tigers headed into their contest with Beauregard. DHS fell behind 8-0 before mounting a rally in the third inning that closed the gap to 8-4.

The pivotal moment of the game came in the third inning when starting pitcher Madison Laduron was struck on the elbow with a pitch, forcing her out of the game.

“It would have been really easy for our players to roll over at that point, but they didn’t,” Browder said. “(Madison Laduron) went down and I had to bring my all-purpose player (Madison Bozeman) in and she did a great job. She came in and held them the next two or three innings.”

Bozeman worked two scoreless innings before BHS iced the game late.

The loss concludes the Demopolis season at 14-22.

“I’m proud of that record. I’m proud of these girls,” Browder said. “The growth has been absolutely tremendous.”