Kalon Spratt’s blast, Ava Hocker’s speed send Williamsburg back to the 3A state softball championship game

FORT DODGE — Remember that fictional dude in Meat Loaf’s Paradise by the Dashboard Light?

His speed and daring on the basepaths win a ball game.

He has nothing on Ava Hocker.

Late in a tie game — the biggest game of the season (so far) — Williamsburg’s courtesy runner extraordinaire stole second base. Then she stole third.

Then came the comebacker to the pitching circle.

Holy cow, I think she’s gonna make it.

“It was a risky move,” Hocker said after a bad throw to the plate enabled her to score the go-ahead run in the sixth inning, and second-ranked Williamsburg edged No. 3 Dubuque Wahlert, 3-2, in a Class 3A semifinal at the state softball tournament Wednesday afternoon at the Rogers Sports Complex.

“I don’t regret it. It worked out for us. I just hoped for the best, and that’s what happened.”

Defense was the difference in this one; Williamsburg (32-12) had no errors, Wahlert (30-11) committed four.

Thus, the Raiders are a win away from a championship repeat. They’ll meet No. 5 Davenport Assumption (27-12) for the title at 2:30 p.m. Friday.

“It’s incredible,” said senior outfielder Shannon Finn, who is playing in her fifth consecutive state tournament (Williamsburg finished second, third and third before winning it all last year).

For the second straight game, the Raiders erased an early deficit.

“It’s a seven-inning game,” Finn said. “Until you get to the end of the seventh, with this team, I’m not going to be worried.”

Down 1-0 after an inning, the Raiders scored single tallies in the fourth, fifth and sixth.

With the game tied 2-2 in the sixth, Jersey Metz reached on an error, and Hocker was summoned to courtesy-run. She stole second, then third.

“That’s all Coach (Adam Berte),” said Hocker, a freshman track star. “I trust him totally.”

Baylie Von Ahsen bounced an 0-2 pitch to the circle, and Hocker should have been toast at the plate. But the throw was off target, and Williamsburg had the lead.

Wahlert got the tying run to second base in the top of the seventh before Metz induced a flyout to end it.

The Golden Eagles struck first. With one out in the top of the first, Julia Roth and Addison Klein rapped back-to-back singles, then Anna Roling walked.

Kylie Sieverding’s ground ball turned into a fielder’s choice RBI before the Raiders turned a slick 6-4-3 double play to avoid further danger.

Metz’s RBI single in the bottom of the fourth tied it. Then came a remarkable sequence from Williamsburg’s Kalon Spratt.

First, her diving catch in right field — with runners at second and third and two outs — killed a rally in the top of the fifth.

“I’m shocked I caught it, but I’m glad I did,” Spratt said.

Then, on the first pitch in the bottom of the inning, she delivered a solo home run to put the Raiders in front, 2-1.

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“The first time up, I waited for a good pitch,” she said. “The second time, I decided I was going to go for the first one.

“It was a low pitch, I hit it with the sweet spot. It went out, and I thought, ‘Oh, gosh, I just did that.’”

Wahlert tied it in the top of the sixth, then Hocker’s speed broke the deadlock.

So, for the Raiders, it’s back to the finals for the third time in the last five years.

“Like we always say, ‘We didn’t come this far, just to come this far,’” Hocker said.

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Photos: Williamsburg vs. Dubuque Wahlert in Class 3A state softball semifinals

Williamsburg 3, Dubuque Wahlert 2

Class 3A State Semifinal, at Fort Dodge

Dubuque Wahlert 100 001 0 — 2 6 4

Williamsburg 000 111 x — 3 6 0

Julia Roth and Lily Oberhoffer. Jersey Metz and Ashlynn Fuhrman. W — Metz (22-6). L — Roth (19-4). HR — Wmsbg: Kalon Spratt (5).

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com