Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Northview’s Mikayla McAnally hit a walk-off bunt to score Daviona Randolph to help lead the Lady Chiefs to a 1-0 victory over Holmes County, Fla. tonight in the FHSAA Class Rural Regional Semifinal in Bratt, Fla.

In the bottom of the seventh, McAnally – who also earned the win in the circle pitching a gem of a game – bunted to Lady Blue Devils’ pitcher Bri Adams, and Randolph squeezed in for the win.

Earlier in the bottom of the frame, Randolph reached on a swinging called third strike on a wild pitch, and stole second on a strikeout to Avery Stuckey. She advanced to third on an error by the catcher.

Randolph said she figured Adams would go for a rise ball on the third strike call.

“I knew my bat couldn’t reach it, but I swung to block the catcher’s view with my bat,” Randolph said. “Once I saw (head softball coach) Amy (Holland), I knew that it was going to be OK.”

Hitting coach John McAnally said in the final at-bat, they knew the Lady Blue Devils had to go for the Lady Chiefs at home or they had to make a throw. Mikayla is the daughter of McAnally.

“They read it perfect,” McAnally said. “She (Mikayla) read where the ball was and bunted, and executed it well. These girls work on that every day. They work on weekends.”

With the victory, the Lady Chiefs advance to the regional final, where they’ll face rival Jay, Fla. on May 13 in Jay. First pitch is slated for 7 p.m.

“That was a great fight out game for us tonight,” Holland said. “I’ll tell you that these two guys right here (pitching coach Shaun Tindall and McAnally) are the back bone of our team. John joined us last year, and Shaun joined us this year. My title is head coach, but these two guys right here are the back bone of our team. They are the back bone of our girls; they love them.”

Mikayla threw a one-hitter, striking out 13 batters and allowed one walk during the contest.

The winning pitcher said she’s proud of her team.

“I couldn’t have done it without them,” Mikayla said. “If they couldn’t get on base and score a run, I would have to keep pitching. The outfield was great, and the infield didn’t get much, but I knew they had my back.”

Tindall said they communicated well throughout the game, making much-needed adjustments. He added that they threw what Mikayla was throwing well, and knew the pitches that didn’t.

“I just call the pitches,” Tindall said. “That’s just 20 percent of the game, and she does the work. Let me just tell you she was on fire. We were hitting everything (spots).”

During the top of the sixth, Mikayla found herself in a jam with two on and one out. She managed to get Adams to fly out to center fielder Kylee Langham, and then struck out the side.

Mikayla said it took pushing through, not remembering the previous pitch and thinking about the next pitch that got her through the inning.

McAnally gave credit to Adams for her performance.

“That girl is really good,” he said. “We hit the ball right at them. We did the same thing last year. She got better as the game went. This one right here (Randolph) swung at a pitch out of her zone, and she knew we needed a base runner.”

Stuckey and McAnally recorded the only hits for the Lady Chiefs.

Adams struck out 1- batters, and allowed one earned run on two hits in 6.1 innings.