The Helias Lady Crusaders kept the line going Saturday.
And now the line is on its way to the Class 3 softball Final Four.
The Lady Crusaders totaled 21 hits and scored multiple runs in five different innings in posting an 18-7 victory against the Logan-Rogersville Wildcats at Duensing Field.
"We really hit the ball well and got some good jumps on the bases," Helias coach Dan Campbell said. "We wanted to be aggressive and we were."
With the win, Helias (21-9) will face Warrenton (26-2) in the semifinals at 2 p.m. Friday at the Killian Softball Complex in Springfield. It is Helias' first Final Four trip since winning the state title in 2005.
"It's good to get back," Campbell said. "We're on a good run, we've been playing hard."
Helias had won its two district games and its sectional contest by one run.
"It was nice to finally be able to breathe in the seventh inning for once," Campbell said.
Helias, which lost the coin toss and was the visitor on the scoreboard, left two runners on in the first and another in the second. But that was just the calm before the storm.
Logan-Rogersville turned two infield hits and a pair of wild pitches into two runs in the bottom of the second to take the lead.
Helias, as it did the rest of the day, had an answer in the top of the third. The Lady Crusaders sent 14 batters to the plate, totaling nine runs on eight singles, two walks and an error. Five of the hits were either infield or bunt singles.
Helias also benefited from three wild pitches while stealing two bases in the inning
"The girls did a great job of beating some hits out, it was a good offensive inning for not hitting any gaps," Campbell said.
Up 9-2, you'd think the Lady Crusaders would have been comfortable. You'd be wrong, in no small part of what happened in the bottom of the second when Helias pitcher Lindsey Steinbeck took a line drive off her hand.
"We knew they were going to keep hitting the ball, that is a great hitting team," Campbell said. "And with Lindsey getting hit in the hand, I knew she was hurting. She did a good job of gutting it out for as long as she did."
After loading the bases with nobody out, Logan-Rogersville scored three runs in the bottom of the third to cut Helias' lead to 9-5. Abbi Pringer came on in relief for the Lady Crusaders to get the final three outs of the inning.
"Abbi came in and did a great job," Campbell said.
Helias got those three runs back in the fourth. Jordyn Nappier led off with a triple and later scored on a single by Steinbeck. Later in the inning, Pringer had a sacrifice fly before Julie Harris banged an RBI double.
"To answer back like we did, it took a lot of the pressure off our pitchers," Campbell said.
Logan-Rogersville plated two runs in the fifth and it was 12-7. Helias got those runs back in the sixth on an RBI single by Harris and a wild pitch that scored the other run.
"It was one of those games where you just didn't know how many you would need, so just keep scoring," Campbell said.
Helias closed the scoring with a four-run seventh.
"I would have never guessed we would have scored 18," Campbell said.
Pringer set down Logan-Rogersville (19-7) in order in the bottom of the seventh. After getting the first two outs on a strikeout and groundout, Harris dove to make a great catch in left-center to end the contest.
"Julie got a great break on that ball and I could tell by the angle she was taking, she had a great chance of catching that ball," Campbell said. "What the heck, if it gets by her, we're up by 11, let's get the final out."
Harris finished with five hits to pace Helias. Nappier had four, while six other Lady Crusaders had two each. Harris and Pringer both totaled four RBI.
The other semifinal will pit Cape Girardeau Notre Dame (26-3) and St. Joseph Lafayette (22-7).
Follow News Tribune sports reporter Tom Rackers (@tjrackers) on Twitter for updates during games.