Aledo Stuns Melissa 5-4 With Three HRs to Reach Softball State Championship

Revenge was a year in the making. Aledo had fallen to Melissa in a winner-take-all state semifinal a season ago, 14-4. Wednesday night, the Lady Bearkats made sure the outcome was different.

It didn't start in Aledo's favor. Melissa's Shug Bradford doubled off the wall in the first inning to plate two runs, and the Lady Cardinals took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the first. But Aledo answered immediately — Delaney Rosser launched a mammoth shot off the scoreboard to cut the deficit to 3-1 and signal that the Lady Bearkats weren't going quietly.

The game stayed tight until the bottom of the fourth, when Breleigh Mayer cleared the center field wall for a two-run homer that put Aledo ahead 4-3. It marked just the fifth time all season that Melissa had trailed, a program riding a 28-game winning streak and chasing a third consecutive state title.

Melissa responded in the top of the sixth when Bradford led off with a solo home run to knot the score at 4-4. But Aledo answered again. Brooklynn Taloa lined a ball just over the center field wall in the bottom of the sixth — the Lady Bearkats' third home run of the game — to reclaim the lead at 5-4.

Aledo's pitching held from there. With two outs in the seventh, Tempe Perry struck out looking to end it. The 5-4 victory sends Aledo to the state championship game next Friday and ends Melissa's shot at a three-peat.