Washington's late rally comes up short

 FORT DODGE - Too little. Too late.Too much Paige Lowary.The seventh-ranked Washington Demons rallied, putting the winning run on base with two outs in top of the seventh, but Dallas Center Grimes pitcher Paige Lowary recorded her 13th strikeout of the game to give the No. 2 Fillies a 2-0 win in an Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union Class 4A state semifinal Thursday night at Rogers Sports Complex. Dallas Center-Grimes (35-5) advance to the championship game against Indianola (30-11) Friday at 4:45 p.m.The Demons battled to the final out, producing their only two hits of the game and fifth total base runner. Washington Coach Angie Shrader said she couldn't fault her team's effort.“They went to the seventh inning, left the bases loaded and we didn't give up," Shrader said. "We didn't go down without fighting.”Lowary was an out away from a no-hit performance when Kaitlin Buchholz beat out an infield single in the hole between third and shortstop. Lauren Vittetoe followed with a blooper down the right-field line and moved to second on a late throw to get Buchholz at third. Joni Erwin walked for the second time to load the bases, but Lowary slammed the door shut.“It got kind of scary at the end, but we beared down and got through it,” said Lowary, who allowed one hit in a quarterfinal win over Sioux City Heelan on Tuesday. “(We're) going to the championship.”The Demons seemed overmatched at the plate until the seventh. Lowary (31-3) managed at least two strikeouts in six innings, fanning the side in the fourth. She kept Demons off balance at the plate.“She's something we haven't seen yet this year,” Buchholz said. “She hit most of her spots.”The Demons (32-9) were looking for some spark, but it didn't come soon enough. They needed to apply more pressure to the Fillies defense.“As soon as we got stuff on, it kind of rattled them,” Buchholz said. “I think if we could have done that earlier on it would have been a whole different game.”One bad defensive inning sunk the Demons. In the third,  DCG's Jackie Peyton led off with her second hit of the game and advanced to second on an errant throw from the outfield. Allison O'Brien hit a short pop that dropped between third and the pitcher.After the play, Washington was caught standing around as Peyton bolted for third, and then O'Brien took off for second. The throw to second skipped into the outfield, allowing Peyton to score. O'Brien scored on Tabitha Taylor's two-out double to left.“It wasn't necessarily that we made a lot of errors," said Shrader. "We threw the ball around a little bit, like the Bad News Bears, and that's not typical of us. At the state tournament, people are going to take advantage of every little mistake.”Washington will face top-ranked Clear Creek Amana (42-2) for third Friday. The Demons have already secured their best state finish.“We'll do our stuff,” Buchholz said. “We're bringing it, and play our game.”