Third-seeded Purchase Line gave the second-seeded three-time defending district champion Lady Bulldogs all they could handle before Claysburg, which had erased an early 3-1 deficit, punched across a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to break a 4-4 tie and earn a 5-4 semifinal-round victory on the Claysburg-Kimmel High School softball field.

Sophomore Isabella Paris, who pitched a complete-game victory for Claysburg, drove in the winning run by punching an in-between, spinning-hop infield single out of the reach of diving third baseman Julia Matko to score Savanna Crissman from second base after Crissman had opened the inning with a single to center field and moved to second base on McKenna Black’s walk.

The victory earned Claysburg (18-4) a berth in next Wednesday’s championship game at a site to be determined against fourth-seeded Juniata Valley in what will be a rematch of last season’s district title game. Juniata Valley advanced with a 9-4 win over top-seeded Conemaugh Valley Thursday.

The top three finishers in the District 6 Class 1A tourney will advance to the state tournament, so the winner of next Wednesday’s third-place game between Purchase Line and Conemaugh Valley will also join Claysburg-Kimmel and Juniata Valley in the state playoffs.

Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski / Claysburg-Kimmel's Savanna Crissman (22) celebrates with (from left) Isabella Paris, McKenna Black and Launa Musselman after scoring the winning run on a Isabella Paris's ground ball in walk off fashion.

Claysburg clinched a spot for itself in the state playoffs, and kept its hopes for extending its string of district championships alive, by grinding out Thursday’s semifinal win on an overcast, cool day.

“It always feels good to be in the winners bracket and make it to the final,” veteran Claysburg coach Mike Barbarini said. “We’re going for a four-peat this year — four straight district titles.”

Claysburg enjoyed plenty of key performances Thursday, and Paris turned in one of them.

“She’s only a sophomore, but she continues to battle like a veteran,” Barbarini said.

Paris grinded out Thursday’s win while throwing 120 pitches in seven innings, allowing six hits, striking out six batters and walking just three. She allowed back-to-back solo homers by Alorra Phillips and Matko in the third inning that gave Purchase Line a 3-1 lead, but displayed her personal grit by working out of a jam in the top of the seventh inning with no outs and a runner on third base, and retiring three consecutive batters on infield pop-ups.

“(Purchase Line) earned their runs today, but for (Paris) to work out of that seventh-inning jam was a big factor for us,” Barbarini said.

It kept the game tied going into the bottom of the seventh, and Claysburg scored the winning run when Crissman — who had led off Claysburg’s first inning with a solo homer — crossed the plate after Paris punched her game-winning infield single.

“At that point, I was just trying to put the ball in play to the right side of the infield to move the runners up a base,” Paris said.

Paris also commented on her yeoman pitching effort that “I kind of struggled earlier in the game, but I knew that it was important to keep throwing strikes and staying ahead in the counts.”

The game went back-and-forth until the end. Leah Nelson opened the scoring for Purchase Line by crossing home plate on a well-placed sacrifice bunt by Alorra Phillips in the top of the first inning after Nelson had belted a leadoff triple.

Down 3-1 entering the bottom of the fifth inning, Claysburg rallied for three runs to take a 4-3 lead. Crissman — who scored three times in the game — singled, moved to second on an error, and crossed the plate on another error. Black walked and Jaylee Swindell reached base on an infield hit and stole second, before both runners scored on Aleah Rightenour’s two-run, two-out single to center.

“She’s a freshman, but she’s been doing that for us all season — coming up with two outs and getting big hits to score runs,” Barbarini said of Rightenour.

Purchase Line (16-5) clawed back to tie the game 4-4 with a run in the top of the sixth inning, when Rylee Mahaffey, who had started the inning with a single, scored from third on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Adessa Beer.

Purchase Line put forth a gallant effort but was hurt by three errors, two of which played a role in Claysburg’s three-run fifth inning and another that allowed Crissman a second-life at-bat in the seventh.

“We just made too many errors against such a good team,” Purchase Line coach Mike Ninosky said. “We gave them all that they could handle and I’m proud of our girls, but you can’t give (Claysburg) that many outs.”

Possible sites for Wednesday’s championship game, while not officially confirmed Thursday, are either Mount Aloysius College or Saint Francis University.

Barbarini expects another tough battle from Juniata Valley in the title game.

“We haven’t played them this year, but we played them last year in the district championship game,” Barbarini said. “They’ve got good bats and good pitching. It will be a very good game.”

PURCHASE LINE (4): Nelson cf 412, Phillips 2b 311, Matko 3b 311, Houser ss 300, Mahaffey p 311, Stauffer lf 200, Brooks DP 200, Cessna 1b 201, Beer c 200. Totals – 24-4-6.

CLAYSBURG-KIMMEL (5): Crissman 2b 433, Black c 201, Paris p 311, Swindell ss 211, Rightenour 3b 302, Musselman lf 301, Hinish 1b 200, Francona rf 300, Bush cf 200. Totals – 24-5-9.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Purchase Line 102 001 0 — 4 6 3

Claysburg-Kimmel 100 030 1 — 5 9 1

2B–Nelson. 3B–Nelson. HR–Phillips, Matko, Crissman. RBI–Phillips 2, Matko, Beer, Rightenour 2, Crissman, Paris. SAC–Phillips. SF–Beer. SB–Nelson, Swindell. HBP–Brooks (by Paris). LOB–Claysburg-Kimmel 8, Purchase Line 6. DP–Purchase Line turned two.

PITCHING

Purchase Line: Mahaffey (L) 6+IP, 8H, 5R, 5ER, 3BB, 1SO.

Claysburg-Kimmel: Paris (W) 7IP, 6H, 4R, 4ER, 3BB, 6SO.

Records: Purchase Line (16-5); Claysburg-Kimmel (18-4).

Umpires: Bill Sheehan (plate); Lynn Smith (1b); Jim Noye (2b); Phil Wombacher (3b).