SPRINGFIELD - The New Bloomfield Lady Wildcats were three outs away from the state final.
However, those three outs proved too elusive against an explosive Marceline offense.
Some costly errors, combined with a grand slam by Gracey Jordan, added up to a seven-run seventh inning that gave Marceline a 10-4 win against New Bloomfield at the Springfield Central Baseball Complex.
"They played a good game," New Bloomfield coach Dara Reinkemeyer said. "We made some errors and we couldn't recover from it."
The Lady Tigers (27-3-1) have now won 19 straight and are in the state final for the first time in program history against Sherwood at 1:30 p.m. today at Killian Stadium.
The Lady Wildcats (16-10) play Iberia in the third-place game at 1:15 p.m. at the Killian Complex.
New Bloomfield took the lead in the bottom of the first inning after Avery Nichols scored on an error hit into by Asya Nichols. Nichols scored on a bases-loaded walk worked by Macie Abbott to give the Lady Wildcats a 2-0 lead, all without a hit.
Marceline's Ella Lowe answered with an RBI double in the top of the second and a two-run single in the top of the fourth to put the Lady Tigers up 3-2.
Then New Bloomfield got its first hit of the evening, and it couldn't have come at a better time. Kamryn Herron hit a fly ball to left-center that cleared the wall for a solo shot, tying the game at 3 in the bottom of the fourth.
"That's a big momentum-getter for the team," Reinkemeyer said. "Actually, it was a big goal for her to have one before then this season and to get it her senior year. In the playoffs that's huge. And we're all about setting goals and accomplishing them. And she can check that one off the list."
Peityn Thomas worked two more clean innings as the Lady Wildcats' starter while Raegan Smart got an RBI groundout to score Asya Nichols and get the lead back at 4-3. At the end of five, it also put the team up one with two innings to play.
Thomas got through the inning in four batters, with an error giving the Lady Tigers their only baserunner of the frame before New Bloomfield went down in order in the sixth.
Then an inning of disaster began for New Bloomfield.
Lowe's swinging bunt was fielded by the Lady Wildcats catcher, but the first baseman couldn't handle the throw down. Then a foul pop-up dropped as catcher Brooke Talbot wasn't able to find the ball between home plate and the backstop. It seemed innocent at the time, but it wasn't when Emma Cathey tied the game with an RBI double a couple of pitches later.
"We kind of beat ourselves in that game," Reinkemeyer said. "That's the rough part."
A single and then a pop-up Thomas couldn't handle loaded the bases, where Sarah Kussman gave Marceline the lead with a two-RBI single. A walk loaded the bases again before New Bloomfield got its first out of the inning on a flyout to center.
The next batter, Jordan, hit a ball to left-center that just barely cleared the fence to extend a two-run game to a six-run lead and put the game out of reach.
Brooklyn Smith and Talbot each got hits in the bottom of the seventh, but that was it for the Lady Wildcats, and a scoreless frame sent Marceline to the state title game.
Now, New Bloomfield focuses on the third-place game.
"To end the season on a high note, that's our goal," Reinkemeyer said. "We're gonna learn from today. We did a lot of great things. We hit the ball hard. Sometimes it was just at people. We just need to minimize the mistakes and I know that all of our girls have the ability to do that. So so we're gonna come out tomorrow because it's a brand new day and we're gonna play some ball."
Sherwood (24-6) won 2-0 against Iberia (20-7) in Friday night's other Class 2 semifinal game at Parkview High School.
Kennedy Diggs struck out 14, pitching a no-hitter for the Lady Marksmen. Rebekah Riffle hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning for the game's only runs.