BOUNTIFUL — With the Bountiful Lady Braves riding a seven-game winning streak, they needed another win Wednesday to stay ahead of the Region 6 race.

But against the Tooele Lady Buffaloes, the Braves allowed seven runs to cross the plate–three in the first inning–to lose 7-3 and fall behind Tooele by half a game with just one game remaining on their schedule.

With Tooele already up 3-0 thanks to a three-run first inning, the Braves came back to cut the Buffaloes lead to 3-1 after scoring in the bottom of the third.

However, Belle Stoddard surrendered two more runs in the Tooele half of the fourth inning, allowing the lead to be stretched to four runs.

After Tooele crossed the plate again in the sixth to make the score 6-1, Bountiful attempted to mount another charge in their half of the sixth.

In the inning, the Braves scored two more runs thanks to Stoddard’s home run to cut the deficit to a manageable 6-3 score heading into the final inning of play.

Tooele crossed the plate one more time in the top of the seventh, however, and held the Lady Braves scoreless in the bottom half to get the win and take over first place in Region 6 at the time.

For the Lady Buffaloes, Marissa Mendenhall had two hits –including a double and a home run– to help lift Tooele to the win.

Whitney Holt was also strong at the rubber for Tooele, allowing three runs on six hits while the defense committed one error to help Holt pick up the win in the circle.

The Braves’ defense committed four errors and Stoddard ended up taking the loss for the Braves.

Bountiful (15-3, 9-2 Region 6) still has a chance to win the Region 6 title. Their final game of the regular season will come against cross-town rival Woods Cross Tuesday afternoon at home.

Woods Cross still has a chance of claiming a playoff spot when the regular season ends. However, they will have to beat the Braves and East this week and get some outside help if they want a spot in the 4A state softball tournament.

The Tooele Buffaloes (13-6, 9-1 Region 6) have won three straight games after dropping their last two. Their lone Region 6 loss came at the hands of Woods Cross back on April 26.

Their final region game of the year will be against Stansbury on the road. They close out the regular season Thursday with a road game against Bingham.