SPRINGFIELD, Mo. • By the time she stepped to the plate in the fifth inning, Westminster Christian had seen all of Sydney Creel it could take.
The Centralia catcher pummeled Westminster in Friday's Class 3 state softball semifinal game at the Killian Sports Complex. She already had slugged a home run and a doubles and when she came up in the fifth inning, Westminster coach Andy Benes had pitcher Jessica Johnson issue a rare intentional walk.
By the fifth inning, though, it was too late. Creel and the Panthers were on their way to an 8-1 victory and a berth in Saturday's state championship game.
"She was just really good from the beginning," Benes said of Creel, who later added another double to finish a three-for-three day.
Westminster (18-7, No. 7 in the STLhighschoolsports.com small-schools rankings) was scheduled to play Sullivan (23-5) in the third-place game at 6:15 p.m., Friday. Sullivan lost to Chillicothe 2-0 in Friday's other state semifinal.
Centralia (27-2) and Chillicothe (24-3) will play Saturday in the state championship game.
Friday, Creel set the tone for Centralia's win with a two-out solo home run to left field in the first inning.
"I didn't see it," Creel said about the blast. "I just started running and (Centralia assistant) coach (Elizabeth) Bostic said it was out. I was like ‘What?'"
Westminster tied the game in the bottom of the second inning. When Jocelyn Sheffield singled and scored on a RBI-hit by Summer Smith.
"I thought we still had a chance then," Smith said. "A lot of the pitcher's balls (curved outside) and I (just went with it). We're pretty disappointed with the outcome of this game, but we do have our heads up, and we're ready to play again."
Centralia took the lead for good when it scored twice in the fourth inning. The big hit of the inning was a run-scoring double by Creel.
The Panthers locked up the game with five runs in the sixth and seventh innings.
Centralia got its leadoff hitter on in each inning to start the outbursts. In the sixth, Kaitlyn VanMaaren opened the inning with a triple, while Creel started the seventh with a double.
"I wish we could have kept it at 3-1 to give us a shot," Benes said. "It turned out it was 5-1 and they scored three more and it kind of got out of control. We tried the best we could, and I am happy with our effort. Today, the better team won."
Centralia pitcher Baylee Douglas earned the win for Centralia. She held Westminster to four hits and struck out four while walking two.
Johnson suffered the loss for the Wildcats. She gave up 11 hits and four walks.
"I am proud of our effort," Benes said. "You're out there to compete and do the best you can. I told the girls it's not life-or-death. We (were) either going to win or lose and then we're going to play again."
