WEAUBLEAU — Keep playing.

That is what Mick Byrd’s Vienna Eagle softball team had to Saturday afternoon during the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 1 Softball Quarterfinals on the road against Weaubleau’s Lady Tigers.

Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Vienna was finally able to figure out Weaubleau pitching.

Stringing together a walk and three consecutive hits, the Eagles were able to wrestle the lead away from the Lady Tigers.

Now on top 4-2 in the top of the seventh, Vienna starting pitcher Marsie Messersmith pitched around a one-out single keeping Weaubleau off the board to extend the Eagles season by at least one more game thanks to their 4-2 quarterfinal victory on the road.

“Our girls kept battling even though we were behind the majority of the game,” Byrd said. “I couldn’t be any more prouder of our team and to be a part of such an awesome community.”

In the top of the first inning, Weaubleau was able to take advantage of some untimely Vienna miscues.

Thanks to two hits, a fielder’s choice and an error, the host Lady Tigers were able to scratch across two runs for an early 2-0 lead going to the bottom half of the first inning.

Vienna won the pregame coin toss, earning the right to be the home team on Weaubleau’s home field.

Retired in order in the bottom of the first inning, Vienna got on the board after Messersmith pitched around a pair of errors in the top of the second inning.

Karissa Feeler led the bottom of the second off with a single before stealing second base and advancing to third on a Gabby Wilkinson ground out.

Jada Kleffner then came up and lifted a deep enough fly ball to score Feeler cutting Weaubleau’s lead in half to 2-1 after two innings.

Over the next three innings, a classic pitcher’s duel ensued between Messersmith and Weaubleau’s Jennica Daggett.

Inning number six is when the game took a dramatic turn.

After allowing a lead off single in the top of the sixth inning, Messersmith struck out the next three Weaubleau batters keeping Vienna in striking distance moving to the bottom of the sixth inning.

Shifting back to the top of the batting order, a two-out rally was started by the Eagles thanks to a two-out walk from Kayla Hertzing.

Hertzing was replaced on the base paths by pinch runner Nora Garro.

Taking second base on a wild pitch, Garro then moved to third on a single by Messersmith.

Feeler then added to her second-inning single with another one driving in Alexi Struemph to tie the game at 2-2.

Nearly seeing the inning end with another running being thrown out at the plate, Vienna got a reprieve when Weaubleau was called for interference placing Feeler back at third base and Messersmith at second base.

Hitless in her previous two at-bats, Wilkinson picked the perfect time to get her first hit Saturday.

Getting a base hit up the middle, Wilkinson drove in Messersmith and Feeler breaking the 2-2 tie and putting Vienna in the lead for the first time in the game, 4-2.

Moving to the top of the seventh, the Eagles were just three outs away from a spot in the MSHSAA Class 1 Softball Final Four.

Working around a one-out single, Messersmith struck out two batters before Kadence George made the final out catching a fly ball in center field.

“Kadence made an outstanding catch on a ball that almost dropped,” Byrd said. “Our kids kept battling and I’m super proud of them.”

In the victory, Messersmith earned the complete-game victory giving up two unearned runs on six hits and no walks. She also finished with 11 strikeouts against Weaubleau.

“From the first practice until the last pitch of the last game, Ellie (Glick) and I ask our players to keep playing no matter what,” Byrd said. “We had an extremely difficult time getting any momentum today, but our players never give up. Never.”

In the sectional round against Neelyville, Vienna was able to break a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fifth inning when Molly Otto scored the game’s lone run on a infield RBI single off the bat of Kadence George.

Edging the Neelyville’s Lady Tigers 1-0, Messersmith followed up her perfect game from the district championship with a no-hitter in sectional action at Vienna City Park.

Right before the Eagles broke the tie in the bottom of the fifth inning, they escaped a bases-loaded jam in the top of the fifth.