WARDSVILLE - On paper, the Blair Oaks Lady Falcons had the better game in several statistical categories.
The Lady Falcons had more hits, had more baserunners and struck out fewer times. But the only statistic that matters is the final score.
Blair Oaks senior Alexis Findley pitched a one-hitter Saturday afternoon, but that one hit was a solo home run by Kaia Calloway. In the end, Calloway's blast was the difference, as the Savannah Savages came away with a 1-0 win in the Class 3 semifinals at the Falcon Athletic Complex.
"Alexis Findley pitched the best game of her high school career right there," Blair Oaks coach Sharon Buschjost said. "Because she's competitive, it will bother her, but I hope she gets over that quickly, because what she did today out there, the focus she had and the pitches she made, it was the best game I've ever seen her throw."
Findley only allowed three Savannah batters to reach base all game. Calloway was hit by a pitch to lead off the fourth inning and Ella Bruner was intentionally walked later in the inning.
But Calloway's big blast is what lifted Savannah to its first state championship game appearance.
"It was a crazy feeling," Calloway said of circling the bases with one out in the sixth inning to put Savannah ahead 1-0. "It was nice just to pull it out for my team."
Findley, a Southeastern Louisiana commit, struck out 12 of the 24 batters she faced, throwing just 81 pitches in seven innings.
Calloway's hit by pitch broke up the perfect game in the fourth. Brookelyn Graves advanced Calloway to second on a sacrifice bunt and a flyout to center field allowed Calloway to move to third base with two outs.
Buschjost made a quick trip to the pitcher's circle before Bruner stepped to the plate, then motioned to the umpire to give Bruner first base with an intentional walk.
"I pretty much knew before I went out there what I was going to do, but it just gave me time to talk to the players about it," Buschjost said. "I had confidence in everything, but we were going to be smart here and put one of their best hitters on base."
The move paid off, as Findley struck out the next batter on three pitches to end the inning.
"That makes you feel really smart," Buschjost said with a laugh.
Blair Oaks was able to get six runners on base against Savannah pitcher Kenzie Schopfer, but none made it beyond third base.
Ellie Kliethermes led off the bottom of the first with an infield single and moved to second on a throwing error. Schopfer responded by getting three straight flyouts to get out of the inning.
"I'll lose sleep over that," Buschjost said. "When a game ends that way, players quickly go to, 'What could I have done differently?' I let them know coaches aren't any different, coaches go to that same place.
"I found myself thinking about that first inning over again in my mind, with a runner on second and nobody out."
Jazmin Reinkemeyer had a two-out single in the second for the Lady Falcons.
In the third, Kliethermes reached on an error and Bailey Rissmiller followed with a bunt single. But again, Schopfer got back-to-back flyouts to end the inning, leaving runners on second and third base.
"Those are moments in the game when you feel like you have runners and hitters in the right places at a big point in the game," Buschjost said. "You just have the confidence it's going to get done, and they did too when they stepped in the box. But unfortunately, it didn't produce a run."
Madi Boessen reached on an infield single in the fourth, and pinch-runner Baley Rackers advanced to third on a bloop single by Kenzie Libbert. This time, Schopfer got out of the inning with a strikeout.
The Wichita State commit went on to retire the next nine batters she faced to end the game, finishing with 10 strikeouts.
"We're definitely a fighting team until the last second," Schopfer said. "We'll fight until it's over."
While Calloway's homer was the play that decided the game, it was perhaps Savannah right fielder Kaylence Cooks' running catch on a ball hit by Kliethermes to the right-center field gap in the bottom of the fifth that may have been the play of the game.
"You thought off the bat, that had a chance to be placed just right," Buschjost said. "But she made a running catch. I felt like it got held up in the wind maybe just enough for her to come in and make a great catch."
After getting a 1-0 lead, Schopfer struck out three of the last six batters she faced to end the game.
"We just didn't put a run on the board to prolong the game," Buschjost said.
Both teams were averaging better than seven runs scored per game, but neither came close to their average in Saturday's pitchers' duel.
"They were hitting the ball well coming into the game, and we were too," Buschjost said.
Blair Oaks finishes the season with a 24-7 record.
"I feel very thankful and grateful to have gone through the season playing our full schedule," Buschjost said, "because a lot of teams didn't get to."
Savannah (18-1) will face Sullivan (20-9) in the Class 3 state championship game at 5 p.m. Friday at Killian Softball Complex in Springfield. The two teams met in the semifinals last year, with Sullivan winning 10-2.
"When you get to this level, there are eight or 10 good teams out there," Savannah coach Mark Pettegrew said. "You just have to get a break here or there. Today was our day."
Sullivan defeated Bowling Green 4-1 in Saturday's other state semifinal. There will not be a third-place game between Blair Oaks and Bowling Green (19-8).
"I certainly understand MSHSAA's decision to do what they did, and I support it," Buschjost said of the cancellation of third-place games this season. "But we know we got to the Final Four and were a state semifinalist."
This is the 11th time in the past 21 seasons Blair Oaks has played in the state semifinals.
"I'm proud of this team for coming together and doing what it took to have a successful run in the postseason," Buschjost said. " We had a lot of fun along the way."