Blue Valley West falls in Kansas 5A softball title game

Blue Valley West pitcher Perri Downey was tired after her team’s 10-0 loss to Wichita Bishop Carroll in the Kansas 5A state softball championship game.

Her voice was tired. Her body was tired. Her demeanor was tired.

“I’m a little bit beat. I’m a little bit tired. I’m a little bit sick right now,” Downey said with sweat rolling down her face. “But this is the last month we’re going to play softball, so I had to do it.”

Downey had a good reason to be tired.

She pitched two complete games in less than 24 hours without giving up an earned run to get her team to the state championship game. But against Bishop Carroll, which was looking for its fifth straight title, it didn’t come as easy.

Downey, a senior, gave up a run in each of the first two innings, then surrendered eight more in the final two.

On offense, BV West was no-hit by Carroll pitcher Brittany Finney before the game was stopped because of the run rule in the sixth inning.

“The first game today, (Downey) shut that team down,” BV West coach Tiffany Warnes said. “But Bishop Carroll is a very good hitting team…

“She’s been our No.1 all year, and she’s our senior pitcher. We wanted to stay with her, and she gave us everything she had.”

In the semifinal, Downey led BV West to a 2-1 victory over Topeka Seaman in eight innings.

She tied the game in the seventh with a bases-empty home run before shortstop Megan Hansel won it in the eighth with a homer.

Warnes informer her team of her retirement after the title game. She spent three years with the team.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end my career, though, even though we didn’t get this win,” Warnes said. “They gave me everything they had this weekend, and that’s all I could ask for.”

This story was originally published May 29, 2015 at 9:15 PM with the headline "Blue Valley West falls in Kansas 5A softball title game."