Castlewood completed a comeback for the ages on Friday evening.

The Warriors scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning to earn a come-from-behind 6-5 win over archrival Arlington in the semifinal round of the Class B State Softball Tournament at Players Complex.

Meanwhile, Alcester-Hudson rolled to a 10-0 win over Bon Homme in the other semifinal.

Arlington led 5-2 entering the final inning before the bats came out for Castlewood. With the bases loaded, Castlewood’s Mackenzie Everson stepped up to the plate and smacked a single to center field, driving home two runners, and cutting the Cardinals lead down to one.

Next up was Maddie Horn and the senior drilled a fly ball double to center field, scoring two more runs, completing the Warriors comeback.

“That felt so good just to come from behind,” Horn said.

Horn was a problem for the Cardinals throughout the game, recording four hits and four RBI to lead Castlewood.

“It just felt really good to hit the ball and make contact,” Horn said. “I was trying to do what I could for my team to get us to the ‘ship.”

The road to the championship game did not come easy for the Warriors, as Arlington led throughout much of the game. Castlewood opened the scoring with Horn delivering an RBI double to left field, scoring Everson to put the Warriors up 1-0. However, Arlington would score three runs in the bottom of the third inning to take a 3-1 lead. From there, Castlewood had to fight from behind for much of the remainder of the game.

“I just knew we couldn’t lose hope,” Horn said. “Early in the year we got hits off them, we got runs off them and I knew we could do it, so just tried to cheer the team on and be positive.”

The Warriors added a second run in the fifth inning when Horn again hit a ball to left field, scoring Everson once more, cutting the Cardinals’ lead down to one. But Arlington added a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth, making any hopes of a Castlewood comeback seem all the more unlikely.

That is when Horn and the Warriors made their move in the final inning, and once the lead was theirs, Horn said the team knew they had to finish the job on defense.

“We just knew we had to get one, two, three (outs),” Horn said. “We’d done it before early in the game, and it just felt awesome having our seventh-grade pitcher lead us there with strikeouts.”

That seventh-grader is Claire Horn, who pitched all seven innings, allowing five runs on 10 hits, while striking out six. Horn could not have been happier for her younger sister’s efforts.

“That was amazing,” Horn said. “It’s so awesome to see my sister do so good, and I’m just so proud of her.”

Also proud was a Castlewood fanbase that came out to support their team.

“It feels awesome,” Horn said. “The support, it means a lot and we couldn’t do it without them.”

Everson contributed to the Warriors’ efforts with three hits and two RBI.

Arlington’s Taya Clausen pitched seven innings and struck out 13 batters. Harley Johnson led the Cardinals at the plate with a pair of hits and three RBI, and Brenley Goebel had three hits.

Castlewood will now get a shot at the the first Class B softball title in state history, this evening at 5:30. Horn is excited for the opportunity.

“It feels amazing. We’ve worked so hard for this, and to see it finally come true, it feels surreal,” Horn said.

Runs were a premium in the opening innings of the other semifinal before Alcester-Hudson pulled away to clinch a spot in the state title game.

“It was tight. We couldn’t get the bats going,” said Alcester-Hudson coach Dean Moller. “We just wanted to get some runs and we finally broke it open.”

Once the Cubs were able to consistently get runners on base in the bottom of the third inning, the runs started to come in.

“From top to bottom, these girls were hitting the ball pretty well there after 2-3 innings,” Moller said. “Maybe after seeing the pitcher a couple times, you know, we finally figured it out and got on it.”

The Cubs erupted for five runs in the third inning and another four runs in the fourth inning to break the game open.

As was the case on Thursday, Alcester-Hudson relied heavily on the pitching of Emma Moller.

The sophomore pitched a near perfect game, going all six innings, while allowing no runs on just two hits and striking out 13 Bon Homme batters.

“She’s a bulldog. She did great. So proud of her,” Moller said. “She takes a lot and she works hard. These girls have her back everywhere she goes, and she’s got theirs. She’s tough.”

The Cubs ended the game with a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the sixth inning, cementing a spot in the first-ever Class B state softball championship game.

“I’m speechless to tell you the truth, but holy smokes, I am excited for these girls to be here,” Moller said. “They’ve worked hard all year and this is where they need to be.”

Ella Serck and Jaeley Christensen led Alcester-Hudson with three RBI each. Serck and Moller had three hits apiece, while Christensen, Delta Pies, Elly Doering, and Jenna Manning each had two hits. Manning also drove in two runs.

Moller also gave credit to the communities of Alcester and Hudson for supporting the program in its first year.

“Our communities have been huge supporting these girls. Just unbelievable how supporting our communities have been to them,” Moller said. “The crowd we have clear up here (is) amazing. So grateful to have them all here.”

In consolation action, Hanson held off a late Gayville-Volin rally to earn an 8-7 win.

Hanson’s Olivia Kayser struck out 13 batter in addition to have two hits, including a home run and driving in four. Cadence Jarding and Reese Marek each had three hits, while Jozlynn Tegethoff had two RBI and two hits.

For Gayville-Volin, Andrea Miller, Tanayia Pacheco and Kendra Beeck-Waterman each had three hits.

In the other consolation contest, Viborg-Hurley used an eight-run fifth inning to pull away from Deuel for a 17-4 win.

Charley Nelson led Viborg-Hurley on the mound, allowing just one hit, while striking out 11 batters. Offensively, the Cougars were led by Shelby Lyons with three hits and four RBI. Tatum Lyons had a pair of hits and drove in four.

Deuel was led by McKenna Olson who had one hit and drove in a pair.

Gayville-Volin plays Deuel for seventh at 10 a.m., Viborg-Hurley meets Hanson for fifth at 12:30 p.m., and Arlington takes on Bon Homme for third at 3 p.m.

Castlewood 100 010 4 – 6 8 0

Arlington 003 002 0 – 5 10 0

Claire Horn and Lilly Jacobsen; Taya Clausen and Jolyssa Steffensen. 2B – Castlewood, Maddie Horn; Arlington, Isabelle Steffensen. 3B – Arlington, Harley Johnson.

Bon Homme 000 000 – 0 2 0

Alcester-Hudson 005 401 – 10 15 0

Emma Moller and Ella Serck; Kenadee Kozak, Olivia Kaul (5) and Kaul, Kozak. 2B – Alcester-Hudson, Moller, Serck.

Viborg-Hurley 003 086 – 17 14 0

Deuel 200 011 – 4 3 1

Lexi Lindeman, Charley Nelson and Lauren Petersen; Katrina Hagberg and Hope Bjerke. 2B – Viborg-Hurley, Zoey Christensen, Shelby Lyons; Deuel, Katrina Hagberg.

Hanson 200 030 3 – 8 12 0

Gayville-Volin 001 210 3 – 7 11 1

Olivia Kayser and Jozlynn Tegethoff; Ayla Dimmer and Andrea Miller. 2B – Hanson, Reese Marek 2, Kayser; Gayville-Volin, Keeley Larson, Tanayia Pacheco, Kendra Beeck-Waterman, Miller. 3B – Hanson, Cadence Jarding, Karlie Goergen, Tegethoff; Gayville-Volin, Miller. HR – Hanson, Kayser.