Freshman Alexza Clifton came up with the biggest hit of her young career to propel Bellefontaine to a tournament win over host Kenton Ridge on Thursday.
Clifton hit a go-ahead home run in the top of the seventh inning and the seventh-seeded Chiefs went on to take a 4-3 victory over the third-seeded Cougars in a Division II sectional semifinal softball game.
Bellefontaine is now 11-12 and moves on to face Benjamin Logan in a sectional final Tuesday at Urbana.
The Chiefs lost to the Cougars in a pair of close games during the regular season.
In the third matchup Thursday, the Cougars jumped in front early with two runs in the first inning.
Bellefontaine tied the game with two runs in the third inning.
Kenton Ridge went up 3-2 in the fourth inning before Bellefontaine tied the game with a run in the fifth inning.
The score stayed deadlocked until Clifton’s homer in the seventh.
Tayteum Vigansky limited the Cougars to four hits in getting the win.
Offensively for the Chiefs, Rianna Fullerton went 2-4 with a triple, Tayteum Vigansky went 2-2, Emma Crabtree had a double and Clifton was 2-4.
The Cougars finish with a record of 15-13.
Bellefontaine will attempt to beat the Raiders for a second time after getting a 2-1 win early in the regular season.
BELLEFONTAINE 4,
KENTON RIDGE 3
Chiefs 002 010 1 — 4 9 2
Cougars 200 100 0 — 3 4 0
WP—Vigansky.