One hit was enough for the Oakville softball team Saturday afternoon.
Chloe Wolf's ringing double in the sixth inning scored Maggie Ruckenbrod with what proved to be the only run of the game as well as the only Oakville hit as the Tigers defeated Rockwood Summit 1-0 in a Class 4 quarterfinal game at the Ballwin Athletic Association.
The win advances the Tigers to the state tournament final four where they will take on Kearney in the Class 4 semifinals Friday at St. Joseph.
Ruckenbrod and Julie Kernen walked to open the sixth inning Saturday, and Wolf, who had struck out on her two previous at-bats, lined a two-out double off the fence in left center field. That was all the support Remy Edwards needed in the state tournament showdown. Edwards pitched a three-hit shutout to make Wolf's run-scoring hit standup.
"I played with her (Summit pitcher Caitlin Krebs) one time on the Energy and she is a very good pitcher," said Wolf, a junior who played at Ursuline Academy as a freshman before transferring to Oakville. "I was just hoping that she would give me a pitch that I could drill. She was doing a good job the whole game of pitching inside. She got me both times that way so I just stepped about a half inch off the plate and got a pitch I could hit. I thought it was going over the fence but a double in that situation worked out great."
Oakville will take a 22-5 record to Friday's contest against Kearney. Summit finishes at 21-8.
Wolf says she knew one run would be enough with Edwards on the mound. "I had total confidence that Remy would hold the lead. She is amazing," Wolf said.
Edwards faced only 25 batters in the game. The right-hander allowed three singles and walked just one. Summit was never able to get a runner past second base and had more than one runner on base only once.
Summit's best chance against Edwards came in the seventh. Krebs singled with one out. A sacrifice by Kara Kimball moved Edwards to second. Amy Boyer drew a walk, but the game ended with Edwards catching a pop-up by Madysen Wilton.
"It's been absolutely crazy with our schedule lately," said Edwards, whose team had to travel to Troy for a 10:30 p.m. district final on Thursday and return to Troy for a 2 p.m. state sectional Friday. The chill of those two outings barely had left the Tigers' bones before they hustled out to Ballwin for the 10 a.m. start Saturday against Summit.
"We are all going on about four hours sleep, but this is worth it," Edwards said. "I felt good today and today one run was all I needed. Chloe came through with a grand slam yesterday (in a 12-1 sectional win against Hillsboro) and got the big hit again today."
The Tigers are certainly battle tested as they prepare for a return trip to the final four. The Tigers finished second in 2007 as they lost the championship game to Lafayette 1-0 after winning their first 29 games of the season.
"Great teams find ways to win whether it be a 1-0, 2-1 or 7-6 game," Oakville Coach Rich Sturm Jr. said. "We've won in a variety of ways this year, and today we did it with great pitching and defense and one swing of Chloe's bat."
Krebs, a senior, was magnificent in defeat for the Falcons. She actually out-hit the Tigers as she had two hits herself and gave up just one. She did walk six though and one of those came home for the game's only run.
