BRAY — BRAY — Central High could not have picked a worst time to play its worst softball of the night.

Leading Bray-Doyle 1-0 with one out in the top of the seventh, the Lady Bronchos gave up two runs on one hit and three errors to fall 2-1 and give the Lady Donkeys the inside track to the state tournament.

Jordan Brown picked up the win, striking out 16 in a complete-game, four-hit effort. Bray-Doyle opened with a 7-3 win over Wilson in the first game of the day and Central High followed with a 4-2 win over Navajo. The Lady Indians stayed alive in the tournament with a win over Wilson and will face Central High at 12:30 p.m. today for the right to take on Bray-Doyle in the double-elimination tournament.

“We’ve had to fight all year and these girls never quit,” Bray-Doyle coach Joe Knapp said. “Winning this game was huge, now we are sitting in the driver’s seat.”

The game was a dogfight through the first five innings as neither team was able to cross the plate. The Lady Donkeys put runners on second and third with one out in the second inning, only to see Central High pitcher Lindsay Johnson step up with two strikeouts to end the inning.

Johnson finished the game with 11 strikeouts, while giving up four hits and no earned runs.

Central High also had its opportunities, getting a runner on second base with no outs in the second and fourth inning. Failed bunt attempts proved to be too much of an obstacle for the Lady Bronchos to overcome in each situation.

“Championship teams bunt the ball,” Central High coach Chad Weldon said. “We didn’t do it, maybe it should have been 3-2. Bray-Doyle just played a great game and Jordan Brown threw really well.”

With the game scoreless, it appeared that it would take a mistake for either team to gain the upper hand. In the bottom of the sixth, Central High was the beneficiary.

With two outs, Mackenzie Payton lined a single into right field, her second hit of the game. Weldon decided to force the action and sent Payton to second on a steal. The pick-off throw went into centerfield and the throw to third went to the fence, allowing Payton to score from first.

“We just weren’t paying attention,” Knapp said. “We didn’t get over on the steal and then our centerfielder threw it to third base trying to make a play. But we battled back.”

Bray-Doyle has been the type of team that will not go away during the season and Thursday night was no exception.

Shayla Bingham led off with a single and following a strikeout, Codie Solomon reached on an error that allowed Bingham to reach third. A walk loaded the bases for Brown, whose flyball into shallow left went out of Payton’s glove to score Bingham.

The bleeding continued as a Solomon scored on an error at the plate on a fielder’s choice to give Bray-Doyle the lead.

“We haven’t been there and Bray-Doyle is a team that has been to the state tournament,” Weldon said. “Three years ago, this wasn’t a program. You have to build and the girls will get it, we may get it tomorrow. They played hard and left everything on the field.”

Brown came out in the seventh to put the finishing touches on the win, closing the game out with her 16th strikeout.

“I’ve said it for two years now, she’s one in a million,” Knapp said. “She perseveres and refuses to give up an inch.”

Bray-Doyle will play the winner of Central High and Navajo at 2 p.m.