MOKANE - Junior starter Asya Nichol's two-out, RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning lifted the No. 3 seed Lady Wildcats over the No. 4 Ladybirds in the Class 2, District 3 quarterfinals Wednesday night.
New Bloomfield (13-7) moves on to a semifinal clash with Show-Me Conference foe Russellville (22-3) - the No. 2 seed - at 6 p.m. today. Russellville advanced by shutting out No. 8 seed South Callaway 8-0 in the District 3 quarterfinals Wednesday.
The Lady Wildcats split their two meetings with Russellville during the regular season, prevailing 3-0 on Sept. 10 at New Bloomfield and then falling to the Lady Indians 5-0 on Sept. 26 at Russellville.
With Wednesday night's loss, North Callaway completed its season with a 7-11 record. The Ladybirds forced extra innings when sophomore center fielder Jalyn Leible scored from third on a two-out error in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 3-all.
Sophomore second baseman Avery Nichols led off New Bloomfield's eighth with a single to center and advanced to second on sophomore left fielder Brinley Dysart's groundout to the pitcher.
Avery Nichols then tagged up and moved to third when junior catcher Brooke Talbot fouled out down the first-base line. Asya Nichols followed with a single to center, bringing home Avery Nichols with the winning run for the Lady Wildcats.
New Bloomfield took a quick lead with a run in the first on Dysart's RBI single with one out. North Callaway, however, took a 2-1 advantage in the third on senior starter Hayley Kimbley's two-run home run.
The Lady Wildcats then went back in front with two runs in the sixth, tying the game on Avery Nichols' RBI single. New Bloomfield then took a 3-2 lead when Avery Nichols scored on an error.
Avery Nichols and senior center fielder Makenna Branch both finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored as the Lady Wildcats collected eight hits.
Kimbley was 3-for-5 with two RBI and also doubled as the Ladybirds totalled 10 hits. Leible went 3-for-4 and scored a run.
Asya Nichols earned the complete-game win, striking out four and issuing four walks. Kimbley also went the distance in taking the loss, despite tallying nine strikeouts.
New Bloomfield overcame four errors and North Callaway committed three.