The tell-tale signs were all there.

Fans were in the stands chanting "state, state, state". The electricity on the Bulldogs’ sideline was palpable and the Fort Zumwalt South girls softball team was about to oblige all those excited onlookers as the Bulldogs held a 4-1 lead over Parkway Central with two outs, no one on and a full count in the bottom of the seventh of Monday’s Class 4 quarterfinal at the Ballwin Athletic Association.

Two singles and four walks later, the Colts were dancing their way to St. Joseph’s for Friday’s Class 4 semifinals with the 5-4 win over the stunned Bulldogs.

"Oh my god, that was insane," said Parkway Central junior pitcher Cassie Rupel. "That was probably the best game ever. We never gave up. We knew we still had a chance and we found a way."

With the 3-2 count with nobody out and no one on, Alyssa Waitz walked, Ali Gorman singled and Tia Pennington walked to load the bases. Rupel singled in a run to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 4-2. Lori Jones and Emily Greenstein drew bases-loaded walks to tie the score 4-4.

"The neatest thing about this group of kids is that they really don’t quit," said Parkway Central coach Tim Cerutti. "They totally believe they can do it. About halfway through the season, it started clicking and, I mean, let’s face it, Zumwalt South played well enough to win this game even with the little breakdown in the end. If we’d still lost this game 4-1 or 4-2, I would still have been happy with the way our girls kept going after it."

But Zumwalt South still had a chance to escape into extra innings.

With Amanda Mehrsheikh at the plate and the count at 1-0 and Rupel on third, Moore fired a wild pitch to the backstop that took a crazy hop and allowed Rupel to slide in safely with the winning run for Central (22-7).

"I just knew I had to score because we’d come too far to stop now," Rupel said. "I was just determined that I was getting home. I was ready for (the wild pitch). I touched home and I just kept thinking, ‘we’re going to state and I can’t believe it.’ This is amazing because it hasn’t happened here in years. We made history tonight."

Moore nearly stood in the way of that history, however, as she was just about untouchable for almost six innings.

She showed her first sign of vulnerability in the bottom of the sixth when Parkway Central scored a single run on a walk to Jones and a Greenstein double.

"I am just at a loss for words," said Zumwalt South coach Kelly O’Bryan. "(Moore) just lost it there at the end. She just couldn’t handle it but it was something we hadn’t seen from her all year."

Up until the disastrous finish, the game was all Zumwalt South.

The Bulldogs went up 1-0 in the first inning on a single by Moore to lead off the game, a sacrifice bunt by Kacey Scharnhorst, an infield single by Kayla Lockwood and a successful front end of a double steal attempt where Moore scored but Lockwood was thrown out at second. Zumwalt South (21-7) scored three more runs in the fifth inning on a two-run triple by Scharnhorst and a run scoring single by Lockwood to take the 4-0 lead at the time.

Even headed into the seventh, Zumwalt South had another chance to score but doubles by Moore and Lockwood were wasted when each was cut down trying to advance to third base on their respective hits.

"We were on such a roll, and I could see that the girls had confidence," O’Bryan said. "I don’t know. We just couldn’t handle it in the end. Those (base running errors) make you look back and say, ‘what if we’d had two more runs? What if? What if? What if?’"

With the win, Parkway Central now moves on to take on Jefferson City (22-1) in Friday’s Class 4 semifinal game at 2:30 p.m. at Heritage Park in St. Joseph’s.

"I’m thinking (about the game) that if we get more runs than the other team then we’ll probably win," Cerutti said. "It’s pretty simple. I don’t know. I’ve never been there and I have no clue. I look forward to going."

jfaasen@yourjournal.com