As Helias head coach Dan Campbell put it, "sometimes you've got to pick your poison."
That was a situation the Lady Crusaders faced with two outs and runners at second and third in the bottom of third inning against the Jefferson City Lady Jays.
Helias opted to intentionally walk Brooke Rozier, Jefferson City's top hitter, to load the bases.
Darby Brundage rose to the challenge by hitting a grand slam as the Lady Jays went on to claim an 8-4 win against the Lady Crusaders on Monday at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.
"I just wanted to make them pay," Brundage said. "They put Brooke on, and she's a big hitter. She came up to me and said, "It's your time.' I knew that I needed to come through for my team and I did just that."
The free pass wasn't a slight to Brundage as much as it was a compliment to Rozier, who leads Jefferson City (15-7) with a .470 average, six home runs and 26 RBI.
It also set up a force out at every base for the Lady Crusaders (11-15).
"You've just got to pick your poison there," Campbell said. "Brundage is a great hitter, too. Give her credit. She hit the heck out of it."
Helias pitcher Lindsey Steinbeck recorded two quick outs to start the third, before issuing a four-pitch walk to Taylor Dey and allowing a double to Emily Williams. Rozier watched four pitches and Brundage took care of the rest to give Jefferson City a 5-2 lead.
"Obviously the key part of the game was Darby's hit," Jefferson City head coach Lisa Dey said. "That was huge. Can you ask for anything better than that? She hit that on the nose."
Helias, coming off a first-place finish in its own tournament Saturday, took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first when Kaylie LeCuru hit a two-run home run to left field.
Rozier led off the bottom of the second with a single and came around to score on an RBI double by Alex Gilliland to cut Jefferson City's deficit to one, before getting a 1-2-3 inning from Alyssa Shulte in the top of the third.
"Credit to (Gillliland)," Dey said. "You would never know it by just watching her play that's she's a freshman. She's been really poised all year."
Rozier added an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth and Gilliland capped off the inning with a two-run double to give Jefferson City an 8-2 lead.
"I was really nervous because of the rivalry," Gilliland said. "I'm just glad I got those hits to score those runs and help bring our team back."
Grace Dittmer and Steinbeck both drove in a run in the top of the sixth after Lauren Morrow and LeCuru drew back-to-back walks cut Helias' deficit to four, but that's as close as the Lady Crusaders would get.
"Down 8-2 we could have just gave it up and we got two more runs," Campbell said. "Another hit or two and it could have got interesting again. I'm proud of our girls' effort. That's a very good team we just lost to."
Shulte improved to 8-5 on the season after allowing four runs on six hits while walking two and striking out nine in seven innings.
"Alyssa struggled this weekend (at the Carthage Tournament) - really wasn't on top of her game," Dey said. "I wanted to throw her to see if she bounced back. She said before the game, "I felt a lot better warming up than I did all weekend.' She pitched very well."
Jefferson City dropped three out of four games in the Carthage Tournament, but the Lady Jays responded in a big way to end the regular season.
"I think it was pretty big since the way we started off in that tournament," Gilliland said. "We didn't do very good, but I think it was good to get a win and come back and get ready for districts."
Jefferson City is the No. 1 seed in the Class 4 District 10 tournament, which begins Wednesday in Camdenton. The Lady Jays receive a first-round bye and will play the winner of No. 4 Camdenton and No. 5 Lebanon at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the semifinals.
"We can't take anybody lightly," Brundage said. "We have that first seed, which is good for us, but we know we need to go in there and take care of business to get out."
Helias, the No. 4 seed in the Class 3 District 10 tournament, will host No. 5 School of the Osage at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Duensing Field. The winner of that game will take on top-seeded Bolivar at 5 p.m. Friday.
"I think we've got as good of chance as anybody to win that district," Campbell said. "We've got the four seed, but we're going to use that as motivation. They have to come to our place and play. That should work to our advantage, but we'll see what happens. I like our chances."