LYONS — It’s easy to forget just how young the Lyons softball program is. With just two seniors and four eighth-graders, the young Lions racked up 20 wins, 267 runs and a Wayne County Athletic Association league crown in 2025.

In 22 games played this season, head coach Andy Richardson noted that the youth of the team really only showed itself in the two losses. One of those losses came Thursday afternoon in the Class C1 semifinals to No. 11-seeded Warsaw, 10-3.

“I am extremely proud. These girls have worked their tails off to get to where there are,” Richardson said. “At the beginning of the season, I didn’t think we would make it this far, I honestly didn’t, because of the age of our girls. They were really able to achieve things I didn’t think they would be able to achieve throughout the year, and they were able to keep their composure.”

The No. 2 Lions fell behind in the early innings on Thursday but showed resilience to claw their way back to make it a one-run game by the sixth inning. However, Warsaw is on an inspired run and could not be stopped. Warsaw’s five runs in the sixth and a total of six defensive errors from the Lions ended the strong season.

“The young age showed through a bit today, and that’s going to happen,” Richardson said. “But it was another game that was very similar to the other loss. Both losses were just growing pains.”

Lyons junior Keira Weber has been near untouchable this season. The righty was 12-0 entering Thursday’s semifinal with a 1.64 ERA and 110 strikeouts against just 14 earned runs.

Weber got into some trouble in the opening inning with runners on second and third with no outs. An RBI groundout began the scoring and the first defensive error of the game for Lyons gave Warsaw a 2-0 lead shortly after.

Rylee Richardson answered Warsaw’s 2-0 first inning with a leadoff triple and senior catcher Baylei Reed brought her home with a sac fly RBI to cut the lead in half.

In the second and third innings, Warsaw chipped away batter by batter at Weber on the mound and the Lyons defense. After Warsaw’s Zoe Kaminski was ruled safe at home via catcher obstruction in the second inning, they added another in the third on an RBI double to left field to lead 4-1.

After dominating nearly all opponents all year long, the Lions found themselves facing an early three-run deficit. As coach Richardson pointed out, however, the young team didn’t flinch.

“Our strength throughout the season is that our second time through the lineup is when we come alive,” Richardson said. “So, when we got down early, it was easy to say, ‘relax.’ The rockets we were hitting right at (defenders) were going to find a spot. Unfortunately, they never found a spot (to land) today.”

The Lions began to claw their way back into the game starting with an RBI triple in the third inning from Addison VanLare that scored Peyton Bonnell. After Weber struck out the side in the top of the fourth and then faced four batters in the fifth, Lyons made it a one-run game in the bottom of the fifth thanks to an RBI groundout from VanLare that scored Richardson.

Weber ended with eight strikeouts.

Even with the Lions’ bats heating up, the Tigers’ Cinderella run could not be stopped. Warsaw poured it on in sixth inning with five runs resulting from bloop singles, errors and doubles into the outfield gaps.

By the time the final inning started, the Tigers were up 9-3. Of the nine runs scored on Weber, just two were earned.

The Lions still gave themselves a chance in the bottom of the sixth by loading the bases with no outs. However, three straight fly outs to the outfield ended the inning as well any hope of a comeback for the Lions.

A brief inning of work wrapped up the final game of the season for the Lyons softball program, which will look to be right back in the same spot next year.

“The game of softball is built around failure, so to be able to deal with that and what that is going to do for the departing seniors and the team are things we talked about,” Richardson said. “We’re going to be back.”