With the bases loaded and only one out in the top of the seventh, Terra Ceia pitcher Morgan Boyd was desperately trying to protect the team’s one-run lead. The Knights’ ace had just allowed a double and a single to Lawrence’s Nos. 8 and 9 hitters and now had to face the top of the order.

After taking a moment to collect herself, Boyd buckled down and continued to do what she has down all year: record outs. The Terra Ceia hurler retired the next two batters in order to hold on and beat Lawrence 9-8 and move on to the championship round of the Tarheel Independent Conference tournament.

“I’m glad we’re in the championship, but I didn’t want it to be this close,” Terra Ceia coach Ashley Harris said. “We beat them 12-0 the first time we played them. Then, without Morgan pitching, they beat us 11-1. I felt like this might be an easy game for us today with Morgan back on the mound but (Lawrence) wasn’t cooperating.”

The Warriors were far from compliant as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning.

Under a cool, gray sky that dropped a soft but steady for the first half of the game, the Knights (17-4) also demonstrated their strong will and returned fire in the bottom of the first to cut the deficit to 3-2 thanks to a two-run triple by Kennedy Dail.

In the third inning, the Warriors tacked on two runs as Sydney Babble hit an RBI single and Kim Northcott scored from third on a wild pitch.

Boyd, who allowed nine hits while striking out eight and walking five, along with her counterpart Leah Buick, struggled with command at times as both pitchers struggled to get a good grip on the ball.

Down 5-2, the Knights strung together a four-run rally to take a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the third. That rally was highlighted by a Rebecca Harrison two-run single. Harrison would eventually score on a Hayley Noles grounder to first.

The Warriors answered in their next at-bat as Hayden Thompson drilled a mammoth two-run home run over the center field fence to recapture the lead 7-6. Lawrence would add to that lead in the top of the sixth when Buick hit a solo shot over the right field fence to go up 8-6.

As the Knights went to bat in the home half of the inning, Harris challenged his team to respond and it did as it retaliated with a game-clinching three-run rally.

Katie Jackson started off the inning with a single and was joined on base by Boyd who drew a walk. After Dail recorded the first out of the inning, Lawrence loaded the bases when it walked Hollie McDonald, and allowed a run to score by walking Harrison. Down by a run, Kristen Alons stepped into the box and delivered the game-winning hit as she shot a grounder through the right side of the infield to score Boyd and McDonald to go up 9-8.

“Kristen Alons came up so big today,” Harris said. “She was struggling for a while but we worked and worked and worked this week at the batting cage. We tried everything to get her bat on the ball. She not only came up with a big hit, but she hit the ball hard in an earlier at bat.”

In the seventh the Knights bent but never buckled as Boyd would go on to get her team out of the bases loaded, one out jam.

The win catapults Terra Ceia into the TIC tournament championship game where it will play the winner of the Hobgood-Ridgecroft game Friday at 2 p.m.

Lawrence 302 201 0 — 8 9 5

Terra Ceia 204 003 X — 9 5 2

WP: Morgan Boyd; LP: Leah Buick

Hitting: L ą Priscilla Lunsford 1-5, Leah Buick 1-2 (HR, RBI), Hayden Thompson 2-4 (2B, HR, 2 RBI, R), Kim Northcott 1-2 (2 RBI), Sydney Brabble 1-3 (RBI), Holly McNair 2-4 (2B); TC ą Natalie Grissom 1-4, Katie Jackson 1-4 ©, Kennedy Dail 1-3 (2 RBI, 3B), Rebecca Harrison 1-3 (3 RBI), Kristen Alons 1-3 (2 RBI).