BENTON -- Mansfield appeared to have control of Thursday morning's Class 2A softball state championship game when Tuckerman came to bat in the bottom of the sixth inning, trailing by two runs.
Somehow, it slipped away.
"I thought we were in good shape," Mansfield Coach Donnie Eveld said. "Things happen, and we just didn't recover."
What happened will be painful for Mansfield's players and fans to recount, with three errors and a passed ball contributing to Tuckerman's eventual 4-3 victory at the Benton High School Athletic Complex.
There was also aggressive base running by Tuckerman (29-4), and clutch hitting by designated hitter Lizzy Walker and game MVP MacKenzie Soden, that led to Mansfield's unraveling.
"We got that one spark we needed, and there you go, it snowballs," Tuckerman Coach Matt Dillon said. "We've been like that all year long. That's all we needed was that one chance to open the door, and we walked through it."
Tuckerman scored two runs to tie game in the bottom of the sixth off freshman pitcher Alyson Edwards, who yielded 1 run on 1 hit through her first five innings.
Tuckerman's rally started when shortstop Gracie Smith reached first after her hard-hit ball to third baseman Brooklyn Adams was ruled an error.
Smith advanced to second base on Audry Altom's grounder to first, and ended up on third after a wild pitch.
Tuckerman starting pitcher Makaylie Gist walked, and Julie Glasgow was sent in to pinch run.
And run she did, stealing second and drawing a throw from Mansfield catcher Chloe Creekmore that was too high for Cole Smith to handle.
Smith broke for the plate after the throw, and Glasgow went to third when Smith elected to throw home after gaining control of the ball.
Walker followed with a hard ground ball single under the legs of Edwards, and the score was tied 3-3 after six innings.
"I didn't think they would throw it," Dillon said of the decision to steal second. "I honestly didn't think they would throw it. Being this kind of magnitude of a game, I thought we might be able to steal that base."
Eveld said Mansfield had a couple of different plays called.
"The situation changed after the first pitch," Eveld said. "She [Creekmore] did what she thought she needed to. We did have a play on at the point."
Momentum was on Tuckerman's side by that point, and then Mackenzie Soden moved over from third to pitch the top of the seventh.
She retired Adams, Kiara Thomas and Edwards, who had accounted for four of Mansfield's hits and all three RBI, including a home run in the fifth that gave Mansfield a 3-1 lead.
Tuckerman right fielder Ansley Dawson led off the bottom of the seventh by reaching on Thomas' error at shortstop, and she advanced to second on a passed ball.
Alert base running by Dawson on Shanley Williams' foul pop down the third-base line put her at third with one out.
In their effort to get to the foul pop, Creekmore and third baseman Adams converged on the ball, with nobody left to cover third.
"She hits that pop up and I see no one's on third," Dawson said. "I'm like, 'I've got to go.' "
Soden flicked a one-strike pitch to left field to win it for Tuckerman.
Soden was jubilant after the game-winning hit, but she said she trying to pull the ball to the right side of the infield.
"I could hardly make it to first I was so excited," Soden said.
Dawson said it felt like she was floating as she crossed home plate before joining her teammates in celebration around Soden.
"It's a feeling you can't really explain," Dawson said. "It's a feeling I've never felt before. It was incredible."
Dillon said the ability to rally and steal games from the opposition has been a trait of Tuckerman, along with an innate ability to run the bases aggressively and successfully.
"We've done that a few times this year," Dillon said. "These girls are so resilient."
Mansfield's Eveld said seven of the Lady Tigers' starting nine, including pitcher Edwards, will return next season for an opportunity to avenge Thursday's defeat.
"They're competitors. They hate to lose," Eveld said of the Lady Tigers (19-5). "So, yeah, they're pretty down."