The Helias Lady Crusaders thought they had taken control of the game in the top of the fourth inning.
The Bolivar Liberators did take control in the bottom of that frame.
The momentum swung twice in the fourth inning of Saturday's Class 3 District 10 semifinal at Riverside Park, with Bolivar keeping it for good and going on to capture a 6-2 win.
After Bolivar scratched across single tallies in the first two innings, Helias finally got things going and tied it at 2 in the top of the fourth.
But a pair of two-out hits in the bottom half gave Bolivar the lead for good.
"When we tied it, I thought, "Now's our chance, we've got the momentum back,'" Helias coach Dan Campbell said. "If we could hold them and come back and get a lead, it might put some pressure on them. But give them credit, they came up with two two-out hits."
After striking out eight times in their first nine outs, the Lady Crusaders finally got the bats going in the top of the third.
With one out, Grace Dittmer smacked a double to center field and Riley Bond followed with a walk. Cayci Reinkemeyer then rapped a single to center that scored Dittmer, and the runners moved to second and third on the throw home.
Claire Ludwig followed with a perfect safety squeeze bunt that scored Bond and tied it at 2.
"That was good to see," Campbell said. "Claire did a great job getting it down and Riley did a great job of breaking once she saw the release. We executed well there."
But after getting the first two batters out in the bottom of the fourth, a double kept the inning alive. The next batter singled in the run, and even a nice 8-2-4 putout by Helias to cut down the runner trying to take second couldn't hide the fact momentum was back on Bolivar's side.
It was one of two times the Helias defense cut down a Bolivar baserunner trying to take an extra base, but miscues on a few routine plays hurt the Lady Crusaders. An error on what should have been the third out allowed the first-inning run to score, and a throwing error on a sacrifice prolonged Bolivar's three-run fifth inning.
"The little routine ones that we couldn't get done hurt us," Campbell said. "... It's been the story of the games we've lost, we haven't played defense well enough to win. And this time of year, you've got to play good defense, because you're playing good teams."
Still, the Lady Crusaders had their chances late. They loaded the bases with one out in the sixth, but a fielder's choice at the plate and a groundout kept them off the board.
"We should have got a couple runs there, at least put some pressure on them by putting the ball in play better than we did," Campbell said. "But it didn't happen."
Then in the seventh, Helias stranded their ninth and 10th runners of the game. The Lady Crusaders left six in scoring position.
Dittmer had two of Helias' five hits in the game.
Lindsey Steinbeck took the loss, as she scattered nine hits and struck out two in a complete-game effort. Only three of the runs were earned.
"(Bolivar's) 8 and 9 hitters combined four hits, so they're solid up and down the lineup," Campbell said.
The Lady Crusaders end the season with a record of 12-16.
Bolivar later won the title with a 4-3 victory against Eldon.