That feeling fueled another state tournament run this season.

This time, however, DLBLC wasn’t going to be denied a spot in the program’s first-ever state championship game.

The top-seeded Lakers out of the West Region made amends Friday evening on the same field in Jamestown with a 5-4 victory in eight innings over East Region No. 2-seeded Thompson.

“I felt like we were going to win from the start, so I had no nerves,” DLBLC coach Melvin Erickson said. “Thank goodness for my eighth grader that stepped up big time in the end.”

Alex Eisen/MDN DLBLC sophomore Alyea Casavant makes a snow cone catch in the outfield Friday in the Class B softball state semifinal game against Thompson.

In the bottom of the eight inning, eighth grader MacKenzie Rist was the unlikely hero with an RBI sacrifice fly to left field, which scored Brynley Benno.

Her unselfish act sparked a wild walk-off celebration.

“I felt like I just had to get a hit down,” Rist said. “Just do it for the team and not for myself.”

DLBLC opened the contest the same way they did on Thursday in their opening game of the state tournament by scoring runs in the first inning.

Faced with two outs in the first frame, the Lakers strung together some hits and got some help from Thompson’s defense to plate three runs. Brynley Benno had a two-run single and Alyea Casavant added an RBI single.

Alex Eisen/MDN Lakers freshman Brynley Benno (14) runs through first base being covered by Thompson’s Taylor Zak (right) Friday at Lyle “Trapper” Lawrence Field.

“That was very important,” Erickson said about getting an early lead. “But, then our gals started to swing for the fences. They wanted to hit it out after that first inning when we hit everything that was pitched.”

While the Lakers’ bats got a little out of sync, sophomore pitcher Erica Hermanson was on cruise control in the circle. After throwing a shutout one-hitter on Thursday, Hermanson reached the sixth inning Friday – in what turned out to be her unlucky 13th inning of work – before giving up her first runs of the state tournament.

Thompson dropped a four spot in the sixth to take the lead, 4-3. The Tommies scored on an RBI single by Caroline Nistler, RBI groundouts by Ashlyn Warcken and Allison McHugo, plus an infield RBI hit by Grace Stumpf.

The Lakers tied the game on a somewhat lucky break in the bottom half. Tommies infielder Lauren Cunningham had the ball squirt out of her glove after taking a tumble in the grass to make a difficult catch in right field.

Brooklyn Benno took advantage and scored to even the score, 4-4.

Hermanson struck out a pair in the seventh, but the Lakers left a runner stranded in the bottom half to force extra innings. Hermanson finished with 13 strikeouts.

“We were hitting the ball on the nose in the seventh inning too,” Erickson said. “So, I thought, ‘Well, we will win it in the eighth.’ And we did.”

The Lakers’ offense only had five hits in the game, but they didn’t need a hit in the eighth to win. DLBLC got its winning rally started with a hit by pitch to Brynley Benno. A wild pitch and a ground out moved Benno over to third base. Rist brought her home.

“I just thought, ‘I can hit this one,'” Rist said. “So, I hit it as hard as I could.”

That ball sailed into left field. While it didn’t have enough power to make it all the way out to the bleachers, it was far enough to be a game-winning sacrifice fly.

Now, the only thing standing in the Lakers’ way from winning the program’s first state championship is the team that ruined their perfect season a year ago: Central Cass. That same team that left them pondering what could have been on the left field bleachers.

The Squirrels knocked off Bishop Ryan in the other semifinal contest Friday, 10-5.

The Class B softball championship game is at 4 p.m. this evening at the Lyle “Trapper” Lawrence Field in Jamestown.

Alex Eisen covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.