WILLARD — Ashtynn Roberts never flinched.
Clear Fork’s hard-throwing right-hander, Roberts worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the bottom of the sixth and the third-seeded Colts rallied for a 4-2 win over No. 2 Bellevue in the Division II district semifinals Tuesday in Willard.
Clear Fork (20-8) will play Madison for the district crown at 5 p.m. Friday in Willard. The fifth-seeded Rams knocked off No. 4 Ontario 10-6 in Tuesday’s early game.
With the game tied 2-2, the Lady Red (22-5) loaded the bases in the home half of the sixth before Roberts went to work. She induced a ground ball to shortstop Courtney Palmer, who fired home to cut down the potential go-ahead run at the plate for the first out of the frame. Roberts then recorded a strikeout before coaxing another ground ball to Palmer at short, who fired to Trinity Cook at first to end the threat.
“As it happens there’s that sense of panic, but the team works really well together,” Roberts said. “We know we can count on each other to get those outs.”
The Colts parlayed Roberts’ momentum-swinging Houdini act into a pair of runs in the top of the seventh. No. 9 hitter Reghan Barker started the game-winning rally with a one-out single and promptly stole second base. Palmer followed with a triple to the gap in right center to give Clear Fork a 3-2 lead. Hallie Gottfried, whose two-run double tied it in the fifth, then launched a sacrifice fly to deep center to plate Palmer and make it 4-2.
“I jokingly asked her if she wanted to bunt and she said, ‘Are you kidding me, dad?’ ” said Jeff Gottfried, Clear Fork’s longtime coach and Hallie’s father. “She was swinging away all the way. She knew she would get a ball to lift.”
Bunting was the last thing on the younger Gottfried’s mind.
“I just knew that she was going to throw a first-pitch strike,” Hallie Gottfried said. “I was going to hit that pitch.”
The insurance run was welcome relief to Roberts.
“That fourth run was so big,” Roberts said. “It allowed me to relax and as a team we worked together.”
Bellevue took advantage of a Clear Fork error to score a run in the first and took a 2-0 lead in the second on Kyra Henney’s solo shot to right center.
“Our kids have been resilient all year. We’ve been behind in other games,” Jeff Gottfried said. “We’ve got a lot of grit.”
