WHEELING — Over the years rivals Wheeling Park and John Marshall have been involved in some wild softball games. You can add Thursday afternoon’s West Virginia Class AAA Region One, Section One contest to that list.

The Patriots scored the only three runs they needed in a crazy bottom of the third inning and survived three bases loaded situations by the Monarchs over the final four frames to hold on for a prized 4-2 victory on Ben’s Field at the J.B. Chambers I-470 Sports Complex.

With the victory Coach Pat Durkin’s 10-10 squad advances to the sectional final Saturday and will need to win just once to capture the sectional championship.

Meanwhile, Coach Ed West’s 17-13 John Marshall team will have to return to action this afternoon at 5 p.m. back at the I-470 complex to battle Brooke in an elimination contest. The winner of that contest will have to defeat the Patriots twice on Saturday.

“This is the spot you want to be in and it feels real nice,” Durkin said with a smile.

“I know that we are going to face a good team Saturday no matter who wins (Friday), but I also know they will have to beat us twice and I feel good about that.

“It’s always fun to play John Marshall because it is usually a great game and (Thursday) was no different.”

John Marshall had numerous opportunities throughout the contest, out-hitting Park by an 11-6 margin and also having trouble taking advantage of five Patriots’ errors.

A caught stealing took the Monarchs out of a possible scoring opportunity in the top of the first but West’s girls got the early lead in the second. Joey Mangino walked to lead-off the frame with courtesy runner Ally South quickly stealing second. Taylor Gray followed with an infield single, sending South to third.

After a steal of second put two on South scored the game’s first run on Abby Blake’s infield hit. However, that was all the damage John Marshall could do and left runners at second and third.

Still trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the third Wheeling Park was about to push across three runs while also taking themselves out of a potentially huge frame. With the bottom three hitters in the order due up Emily Ashton walked on a 3-2 pitch before Catie Nesbitt reached on a bunt single while trying to sacrifice.

Kelsey Chacalos, the No. 9 hitter, also tried to sacrifice bunt only to beat the throw to first to load the bases with nobody out. Shea Wright then worked a RBI walk on a 3-2 pitch to knot the score at 1-1.

From there things really got crazy as Ashton scored on a wild pitch to give Park the lead and when the Monarchs threw the ball wildly trying to get her Chacalos followed her home for a 3-1 reading.

A walk to Izzy Miller put runners at first and third with no outs, however, with Miller running both her and Wright were thrown out on the bases to help John Marshall avoid any further damage.

“We were very fortunate to have a couple of very fast girls at the plate on a pair of sacrifice bunt chances that turned into hits,” Durkin said. “But we also mis-read a couple of signs and ran ourselves out of an even bigger inning. For some reason we were sloppy on the bases all day.”

The Patriots added a run in the fourth when Ashley Linder, who got the win in the circle, was hit by a pitch leading off the frame before Lauren Fox reached on an error to put runners on the corners. After a pair of strikeouts Chacalos ripped a run-scoring single to left to make it a 4-1 count.

After leaving the bases loaded in the fourth the Monarchs cut into the deficit in the fifth on a pair of errors, a base hit and Gray’s RBI fielder’s choice.

John Marshall loaded the bases with two away in both the six and seventh innings without pushing a run across.

In all, the Monarchs stranded 14 runners on the base paths, including nine in scoring position. However, John Marshall also turned a pair of double plays on defense and threw three Patriot runners out on the bases.

“Lost opportunities were the story of the game,” West said. “We had too many chances in which we just didn’t cash in on. And that third inning was just a different kind of inning. I wish I could say something positive, but it wasn’t very good for us.

“We just weren’t able to make a play and they bunted the ball very well. But it is not the end of the season for us, we have a chance to come back (Friday) and if we play better have another chance at Wheeling Park on Saturday.”

Durkin was very happy with how Linder and his defense performed when the Monarchs had scoring opportunities.

“Our defense came through when we needed it too and Ashley (Linder) threw some very good pitches there at the end,” Durkin said. “John Marshall hit the ball hard in the seventh inning, but you expect that out of a good softball team.”