YUMA, Ariz. - With their season on the brink after a very long day at the ballfield, the Raiders showed their toughness.
Three Rivers scored three runs in the seventh inning to rally and beat Chattanooga State 7-6 to advance to the final eight of the NJCAA National Tournament.
The Raiders advance to play Seminole State (Okla.) at 4 p.m. Thursday (CST). With a win, they will play at 8 p.m. (CST) against the winner of Grayson and San Jacinto. A loss would end the Raiders' season in the double-elimination tournament.
"In this game, I finally saw the nerves go away," Three Rivers coach Jeff Null said. "The first two games, we played with a lot of nerves. We made some plays. It wasn't perfect, but we made some plays, played with a lot of confidence, and I'm super proud of that."
Shortly after midnight and at the tail end of a 12-hour day in the desert heat, Three Rivers had a 4-2 lead in the sixth inning, but Chattanooga State's Ashlyn Holland hit a two-run home run to put the Tigers ahead 5-4.
"We got down on ourselves a little bit, a little discouraged, but we picked it up fast in the dugout," Three Rivers third baseman Kyla Puckett said.
With the bottom of the lineup due up in the seventh inning, Fayth Rakes drew a leadoff walk, and Blair Quarles put down a sacrifice bunt to roll things over to the top of the lineup.
"I just wanted us to play with some heart and compete, and they did that," Null said. "Even when they hit the two-run homer and took the lead, I was proud of us to that point, even. We busted our tail and kept showing heart."
Jenny Morey slapped a hit over the third baseman's head, and the slicing ball landed just inside the foul line, and the speedy Morey legged out a double by the time Chattanooga fielded the ball, with pinch-runner Anna Besand holding at third.
Molly Spangler hit a grounder at third, and Besand held before taking off on the throw to first base. The first baseman couldn't scoop the short throw, and Spangler reached on the error while Besand scored easily to tie the game.
Morey and Spangler each had two hits and two runs for the Raiders.
Brianna Everett got a sacrifice fly to score Besand and take the lead, and Spangler put Three Rivers ahead 7-5 on a passed ball.
"It was an intense game. It could have gone either way, but we put our hearts out there on the field," Quarles said.
Chattanooga threatened in the bottom of the seventh and had the walk-off run on second base.
With runners on first and second with two outs, Samantha Ryan hit a similar ball to Morey's down the third baseline.
Spangler, Three Rivers' shortstop, raced for fly and tried for the diving catch but knocked it into foul territory. It was ruled a fair ball, and Chattanooga cut the lead to a run while moving runners to second and third.
This brought Holland to the plate after she homered in her previous at-bat.
This time, Holland pulled a sharp grounder toward third base. Kyla Puckett snared the potential walk-off hit and looked up as the runners were moving. After a beat, she tagged out Ryan moments before the runner on third was able to score.
"I didn't see anything until I got focused back in. I saw a runner and thought, 'I might as well tag her. I went with my closest option, and that was (the runner from second to third)," Puckett said. "I wasn't nervous; I was just ready to go to bed. I'm tired. I wasn't nervous. I had faith in my team the entire time. I played it through and did great."
As the Raiders ran toward Puckett to celebrate, she held the ball high and smiled to let everyone know she had it, and it was time to go to sleep.
"We showed a lot of toughness in that last inning and came up with some big hits," Null said. "That's what I thought we didn't play with against Butler."
Kindi Puckett (23-2) pitched a complete-game win and allowed 10 hits and six walks with one strikeout.
Ryan (17-3) pitched 6 1/3 in the loss for Chattanooga. She allowed nine hits and a walk with two strikeouts.
Zoe Bisby hit her 11th home run of the season and Three Rivers' first of the tournament to tie the game at one. In the third, Bisby also had a two-run single past first base to put the Raiders ahead 3-1. She finished 3 for 4 with a run and three RBIs.
In the bottom of the frame, Quarles may have robbed a potential home run.
"It was close (to going over). Maybe a foot or two away," Quarles said. "I feel like I might have pushed it over, but it could have been a home run. We wouldn't know unless it happened."
Scott Borkgren - Daily American Republic