APEX — Apex pitcher Natalie Klemann struck out five, surrendered just five hits and allowed only three runs in seven innings of work against Fuquay-Varina Thursday evening at Apex High School. Unfortunately for the Cougars, the Bengals’ Alex Ryan was a little bit better while leading Fuquay past Apex 3-0.

“Alex was fantastic,” Bengals coach Deb Clarke said. “She gave up no walks, made no mistakes and was hitting her spots. She was really ready to pitch.”

Ryan scattered seven hits over seven innings and worked out what little trouble she found herself in with the strikeout mostly. She fanned six en route to the shutout.

Having faced the Cougars already this season, Ryan said she tweaked her approach somewhat this time out to try and keep the Apex batters off-balance. It worked.

“I was more mentally prepared to face them (Thursday),” Ryan said.

“Last game they were real aggressive at the plate so I knew I had to hit my spots, and I was able to do that. I also worked inside more this game. I don’t think they were expecting me to come inside that much.”

Cougars coach Bonnie Hodge was not surprised by Ryan’s performance in the least.

“She pitches the same every time we see her,” Hodge said. “We just couldn’t get the bat on the ball.”

Fuquay did the majority of its offensive damage early. After Camise Patterson led off the game with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice, Alexa Cannon doubled, plating Patterson and giving the Bengals a 1-0 lead.

Natalie Budde followed with a double of her own and just one out into the game, Fuquay led 2-0.

The score would stay that way until Cannon scored on a throwing error in the sixth to push the Bengals’ lead to three. After the first inning, Klemann settled down and was equally as dominant on the mound as Ryan.

“Natalie was very good,” Hodge said. “She uses a wide variety of pitches and they were all working for her.”

Apex had their chances to cut into the lead late, getting into scoring position in both the fourth and fifth innings and putting runners on the corners in the seventh with the tying run at the plate. But alas, the Cougars failed to capitalize, stranding four base runners in the final four innings.

“We didn’t come up with the big hit,” Hodge said. “We just couldn’t score.”

For Fuquay, the win marked its second victory this season over Apex, essentially sealing the conference title for the Bengals. After failing to capture the Tri-Eight championship a year ago, Clarke was noticeably excited about her team’s accomplishment after the game.

“This is always an important game for us. This is a tight rivalry,” Clarke said. “So this is a big win. And more importantly it’s a conference title for us. We let it slip away last year. It feels good to get it back.”