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BOSWELL -- North Star hasn't had to play from behind much lately, but down by one late in the District 5 Class 2A semifinals, there was no reason for the Cougars to lose their cool.
Glendon Griffith singled in the tying run and scored what wound up being the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth, and Connor Yoder secured the final four outs on the mound to lift North Star to a 4-3 victory over Northern Bedford on Wednesday.
"At times, the bats weren't working great today, so we had to kind of manufacture runs on passed balls and by being aggressive on the base paths," North Star coach Jake Klukaszewski said. "We just trusted ourselves. I had confidence in us to do that."
The win propelled the second-seeded Cougars to the district final for the second consecutive season.
After suffering a 7-0 loss to eventual Class 2A state champion Everett in last year's title game, they'll look to fare better opposite No. 1 seed McConnellsburg on Tuesday.
"We're going to have to bring our A-game," said Klukaszewski. "We're going to work Thursday and Friday and hopefully get better, learn from last year and go get one."
Yoder swiped two bases, scored two runs and notched the final four outs to earn the victory in relief as North Star (15-4) ran its winning streak to eight. Cayden Turner started and threw 5-plus innings, conceding three runs on nine hits with eight strikeouts.
Northern Bedford's Josiah Bowser launched a solo home run to left field off Turner in the top of the sixth to break up a 2-2 tie.
Yoder reached on an error and stole second to open North Star's sixth inning. Griffith dropped a single into right field over the head of Northern Bedford second baseman Ben Gable, allowing Yoder to trot home.
Griffith swiped second base and moved to third on a groundout before scoring the deciding run via a wild pitch.
The Black Panthers had their chances to build a lead, especially in the early going, but left five base runners stranded over the first four innings.
"We had opportunities early, and we didn't cash in," Northern coach Ryan Cherry said. "We let them hang around. They came through in the sixth inning when they needed to. Credit to them for doing a good job putting the ball in play and making things happen."
Down 1-0, the Panthers (12-9) answered in the second when Eion Snider doubled into the left-field gap and eventually scored on an RBI groundout by Eli Cherry.
In the third, Northern Bedford center fielder Cullen Lloyd cut down Turner at home plate to limit the damage to one run.
Rece Dibert contributed two singles, and Gable had an RBI triple for Northern.
Panthers starter Reece Musselman tossed 5-plus innings, giving up four runs on six hits.
NORTHERN BEDFORD (3): Lloyd cf 401, Kochara dh 301, Musselman p-lf 300, Dibert rf 402, Snider ss-p 412, Bowser 1b 312, Horsh lf 211, Cherry 3b 300, Gable 2b 301. Totals -- 29-3-9.
NORTH STAR (4): Retassie 2b 311, Turner p-1b 302, Yoder ss-p 320, Griffith 1b-ss 312, Livingston c 301, Kimmel cf 300, Orris lf 200, Weible rf 100, Scherer rf 100, Durst 200. Totals -- 23-4-10.
SCORE BY INNINGS
Northern Bedford 010 101 0 - 3 9 1
North Star 101 002 X - 4 6 0
E-Cherry 2B-Snider, 3B-Gable. HR-Bowser. RBI-Griffith (2), Livingston, Cherry, Gable, Bowser. WP-Yoder. LP-Musselman. SO-Turner 8, Yoder 1, Musselman 2. BB-Turner 3, Musselman 1.
Records: Northern Bedford (12-9); North Star (15-4).