Sisters Lindsey, left, and Avery Hui embrace after the Tomaahwks fell 5-2 to Concord in the Division I softball semis at Memorial Field. It was their final game together. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

CONCORD – It was the kind of quality softball that coach Greg Cochrane has instilled in the Merrimack High School program.

The problem was on Wednesday that you can still come up short in quality games, and that’s what happened to the Tomahawks in a 5-2 loss to Concord in the Division I semifinals at Memorial Field.

“It’s good experience, we are a young team, a young program,” Cochrane said. “This is an incredible run for our team. This is our goal, to be a Final Four team. … Yes, it would’ve been nice to play that 21st game, but it wasn’t in the cards today. … They got the timely hits, not us.”

It was simply one bad inning that did the 15-5 ‘Hawks in and sent the Tide to Saturday’s 2 p.m. title game at Nashua’s Rivier University vs. Salem. Concord scored five in the fifth on four hits, sending nine to the plate off ‘Hawks freshman starter Avery Hui. Hui and Tide hurler Alice Rosenburg were locked in a scoreless duel up to that point.

An error on a bunt started the inning, and then a collection of bad fielder’s choices that gave Concord a 1-0 lead. Rosenberg helped her own cause with an RBI single, but one out later, Tide cleanup hitter Sarah Taylor cranked a two-run triple over the head of Merrimack right fielder Ava Ma-Lynn, and Concord had a 4-0 lead. Liz Blinn singled home the fifth run.

“I thought coming in I thought we were two even teams,” longtime Concord coach Duke Sawyer, who got his 300th career victory, said. “This is the way it should be, these types of games. This is how it should be, lot of intensity. I’m so proud of the girls.”

“Credit to them, they came out, got some timely hits, and took advantage of it,” Cochrane said of the Tide. “We were down in that moment, made some decisional errors. They got those three timely hits, back-to-back-to-back … There’s a reason why they’re a perennial top team in the division.”

Merrimack, though, fought back against Tide reliever Madelena Wachter with two in the sixth on Ally O’Brien’s two run single. But it wasn’t enough. Watcher retired the side in order in the seventh to end the game, and Merrimack’s season.

“I kind of wondered for a minute,” Sawyer said of whether the ‘Hawks would make a comeback.

“One team wins, one team loses,” Cochrane said. “Unfortunately it wasn’t Merrimack today.”