CHILLICOTHE - Third seed New Lexington entered the postseason with aspirations of another run.
However, second seed Minford earned a 13-3 five-inning mercy in the Division III district semifinal on Thursday at Unioto High School.
The Panthers, who finished 11-10, also committed two errors in that frame.
"We didn't play well," New Lex coach Dave Ratliff said. "We came back with three runs in the third and I thought we could regroup. We couldn't get a handle on our defense."
A year ago, New Lex reached the regional semifinals and returned the core of that team.
This season ended in disappointment, as the Panthers lose five seniors, including starters Rainbow Ratliff, Lexis Ellis and Leah Forson.
That group will be remembered for taking the program to new heights.
"They bought in and were big instruments in turning this program around," Ratliff said. "We told our younger girls they need to keep working. Our goals are to compete to be at the top of the (Muskingum Valley) league and to make deep tournament runs."
Both teams were retired in order in the first, and New Lex appeared to have a rally in the second. Emily Robinson and Morgan Brown led off with back-to-back singles, but Minford pitcher Airiel Kingery retired the next three to keep the Panthers off the board.
New Lex pitcher Bailey Harris notched a strikeout for the second out.
Layona Davis reached on a three-base error with one out to start the Panthers' rally in the third. Chloe Gilligan brought her home on a groundout then Harris and Robinson followed with two-out singles and Brown walked to load the bases. Ratliff singled home two runs.
New Lex had just one hit in the final two innings and were held to six singles with Robinson having two of them.
Harris had four strikeouts and no walks in a complete game loss.