With one swing of the bat, Dylan Topel helped the Montgomery County softball team reach a place it has never gone before – the Final Four.

Topel hit a walk-off, two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to lift the Wildcats to a 7-5 victory over the Chaffee Red Devils in a Class 2 state quarterfinal game at Frisco Park in Chaffee, located south of Cape Girardeau.

The Wildcats will play in the state semifinals for the first time in school history at 11 a.m. on Friday, when they take on the South Harrison Bulldogs in a Class 2 semifinal game at Meador Park in Springfield. MCHS will take a 28-5 record into the contest with South Harrison, which is 25-10 and will play in the Final Four for the second time in three years.

With the game tied at 5-5 with two outs and senior Gracie Cobb at second, Topel needed just a hit to win the game for the Wildcats. But on the first pitch, she drove the ball over the left-field fence to continue a MCHS season in which the team set a school record for most wins in a season, captured its first Eastern Missouri Conference championship and won its second district title in program history.

The Wildcats came back from 3-0 and 5-4 deficits to beat the Red Devils, who competed in the Final Four in each of the last two years. Chaffee ended its season at 25-4.

MCHS trailed 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh before scoring three runs to get the win. After Reese Hill led off the inning with a walk and Gracie Cobb reached first on a bunt, Sam Turner delivered a single to score Hill to tie the game at 5-5.

Anna Klekamp hit into a double play that forced out Turner at first base. Topel, the next batter, hit her fourth home run of the season. Before this year, she didn’t have any home runs.

Hailey Meyer cut the Red Devils’ lead to 3-1 with an RBI groundout that scored Klekamp from third. Klekamp led off the inning with a single.

MCHS scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 4-3 lead. With one out, Kenley Wessel and Trinity Brown walked. Hill smacked a single to right to score Wessel and a misplay by the Chaffee right fielder allowed Brown to score to cut the Wildcats’ deficit to tie the game. Hill gave MCHS the one-run lead when she scored on a Chaffee fielding error.

The Red Devils, who beat Kelly in the Class 2, District 1 finals at home on Tuesday to advance to the state quarterfinals, took the 5-4 lead on a two-run single by Millie Carroll.

But MCHS came back to pull off its fourth come-from-behind victory in three weeks. Topel, Klekamp and Turner each had two hits for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats advanced to the state quarterfinals by beating Elsberry 1-0 in the Class 2, District 2 championship game at Elsberry. It was their first district championship since 2018.

MCHS played in the state quarterfinals for the second time in program history. Seven years ago, the Wildcats lost to East Carter 3-2 in eight innings at Three Rivers Community College, just three days after beating Hancock in sectional play.

A win over South Harrison on Friday will advance the Wildcats to the championship game at 10 a.m. on Saturday. If MCHS loses, it will play in the third-place game at 3 p.m. Friday.

Holden and Mid-Buchanan will square off in the other semifinal at 11 a.m. Friday. Mid-Buchanan is 31-7 and is competing in the Final Four for the fifth time in school history. Holden is 20-10 and will make its first state semifinal appearance.

Editor’s note: A print version will be published in the Oct. 29 edition of the Montgomery Standard.