There were two different approaches to a pitcher's duel Monday.
There was the Lauren Howell approach - the Helias freshman got strikeouts.
"Lauren pitched like Lauren can pitch," Helias coach Dan Campbell said.
Then there was the Macy Berhorst approach - the Fatima junior threw strikes and let her defense do its job.
"Macy pitched a phenomenal game," Fatima coach Dana Scheppers said.
They were equally effective for 11 innings as the Lady Crusaders and Lady Comets were tied at 1 before Helias got the game-winner in the bottom of the 12th for the marathon 2-1 victory at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.
"Berhorst kept us off-balance all night,' Campbell said. "She was outstanding and we are fortunate to come out of here with a victory."
Howell recorded strikeouts on 23 of Fatima's 36 outs in the game. Berhorst just struck out seven, but again, the Fatima defense was there to support here throughout the contest.
"It's great to see Macy do what she did tonight," Scheppers said. "Helias is a good hitting ballclub and to hold them to two runs in 12 innings is doing a great job.
"I knew our defense was capable of playing like this, it was exciting to see everybody do it consistently."
After Howell struck out the side in the top of the first inning, Helias looked like it was going to break the game open in the bottom of the inning.
The Lady Crusaders had runners at second and third with one out, but were only able to score one run.
Fatima answered in the top of the second. Raegan Huhn led off with a double to left. After two strikeouts, she moved to third on a passed ball before scoring on a perfectly placed bunt single by Kayla Hicks.
But that was all the scoring for a lot of innings.
Helias had runners at second and third with one out in the fifth, but a pop out and a fly out ended the threat. In the eighth, the Lady Crusaders got a runner to third with one out before a strikeout and groundout sent the game to the ninth.
"We could not get the big hit when we needed it and we couldn't get the ground ball with a runner on third with less than two outs when we needed it," Campbell said.
In the seventh, Fatima had runners at second and third with one out. But a pair of strikeouts kept the game knotted at 1.
"We had chances to score where we didn't execute on all of the opportunities we had," Scheppers said. "If we can get that to come around, we should be all right the remainder of the season."
In the bottom of the 12th, Rylee Kolb singled to left and stole second. On the next pitch, Haley Kempker doubled to the gap in left-center to plate Kolb.
"Haley had a nice hit to bail us out, that was by far the hardest ball we hit all night," Campbell said.
Campbell knew Helias was going to get the best Fatima could offer.
"They came ready to play, you could tell their intensity from the moment they stepped off the bus," he said.
Fatima has struggled this season, replacing a talented senior class.
"We have different people in different positions and we're still getting used to everybody," Scheppers said. "Hopefully, we can use this as a turning point in our season and be successful when it matters.
"We didn't let things snowball like we have in the past, it looks like the confidence is there now."
Berhorst finished with a seven-hitter for the Lady Comets (4-9), who will play Thursday at Blair Oaks.
Howell allowed six hits and no walks for the Lady Crusaders (15-3), who will play Wednesday at Hickman.