PICKERINGTON – Karly Klug was presented a unique opportunity Wednesday afternoon.

How often in a high school softball player’s career does one have a chance to step to the plate with the bases loaded, two out and the game and, perhaps, the season, on the line?

Rarely.

That’s why Klug, Shadyside High School’s sophomore shortstop, seized the moment.

”I looked at the spot and said ‘I’m going to hit it there,”’ she said smiling.

Just like her coach knew she could.

”She’s a great player,” Lady Tigers head coach Jillian Ongley remarked. ”I just told her to hit the ball the best way you can. Hit a line drive … no pop ups. Get the head of the bat on the ball and drive it.”

Shadyside had waited all afternoon for this opportunity. It’d fallen behind Fairfield, 1-0, early in their Ohio Division IV regional semifinal contest and was now caught in a pitcher’s dual between the Lady Lions’ Arica Melson and its own Megan Heagney.

Klug and her teammates finally rattled Melson in their half of the fifth and, with the sand in the hourglass starting to disappear, she wanted to take care of business because who knew if a similar opportunity would come her team’s way again.

”I wanted to get those runs so bad,” she said. ”It was exciting.

”(Coach) told me to have confidence. That was all I needed. I went out there and didn’t have a doubt in my head.”

After going 0-for-2, Klug sent a single into shallow left-center. Not only did she drive in the game-tying run, but she also plated what turned out to the game winner. Shadyside added another run in the fifth, then poured it on in the sixth, scoring four more times en route to a 7-1 rout of the state’s top-ranked squad.

”I had to back Megan up,” Klug said, taking a moment to compose herself emotionally. ”She did such a good job pitching. Lindsey (Dunn) did such a good job calling pitches to keep (their hitters) off balance.

”I just felt like I owed it to them.”

And that remark signals one of the main reason’s the Lady Tigers will play for a a berth in next week’s state tournament, Ongley believes.

”We build on each other’s successes,” she said. ”We’re playing really well as a team right now. That’s what it takes to win a game.”

Five LTs recorded hits in the game. And, in the sixth, 10 batters went to the plate.

Clearly, Shadyside served as Lion tamers this day.

”We’re on a roll,” Klug said. ”We’re so upbeat. We’re on fire.”

In an ironic twist, the LTs torched Central High School’s Tiger Softball Complex with their stellar late-inning play. A victory Saturday against the winner of today’s Danville-Whiteoak winner would make Shadyside the sixth OVAC school to play in the Ohio Final Four, and the first since Monroe Central won the crown in 2004.

For Ongley, a Shadyside graduate, it’s great to see softball now among the list of sports at her alma mater that have reached this stage of tournament play.

”It’s awesome, amazing,” she said. ”It’s been great to be a part of it. They had a wonderful send off for us. The town has been awesome and the support group, you see it here, has been amazing.”

For Klug, she hopes to see that trail of Orange and Black make its way down I-70- at least three more times.

”I’m excited,” she said. ”I can’t wait to play (Saturday).

”We’re the first team to get this far and I want to see how far we can take it.”

Thorp can be reached at rthorp@timesleaderonline.com