BETHEL – Meghan Lunney and her coach were thinking along the same lines.

“In my other at bats, I had taken my first pitch,” said Lunney. “Every time it was a strike.”

So with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, Lunney came to the plate with a simple task. She needed to put the ball in play and hope that Ashley Stambolis could score from third. So Lunney intended to swing and connect on the first pitch. Her fly ball to center was dropped, allowing Stambolis to score easily in a 4-3 Telstar win over Georges Valley.

The Rebels earned their second straight No. 1 seeding in Western C and finished with a perfect 14-0 record, the first perfect season since the early 1980s. “This is my senior year,” said Lunney. “The is four years in the making for us. We worked for years for this.”

Telstar plays Jay in the Mountain Valley Conference Championship game Friday at Saint Joseph’s College. Had Georges Valley won, the Buccaneers would have been in the championship game.

“This is awesome,” said pitcher Jillian Kimball. “We’re No. 1 in the MVC and 14-0.”

Though Georges Valley (12-2) rallied from an early 3-0 deficit, the Buccaneers were stonewalled the final four innings and managed just three hits overall against Kimball. Though the Rebels hadn’t produced a hit against Megan Watts since the second inning, Telstar got things going in the eighth.

Stambolis led off with single. Jessie Farrington followed with a bunt hit that was nearly pushed by the first baseman.

“Jess was trying to bunt the ball right past her,” said Telstar coach Jim Lunney. “She hit it hard enough that she couldn’t handle it.”

Kayla Mills reached on a fielder’s choice, loading the bases with no outs.

“We moved them,” said Jim Lunney. “We got a lot of pressure and got the bases loaded.”

All they needed was one hit, a ground ball or a fly ball. After Watts got a strike out, Lunney jumped on the first pitch and drove it to center. Lacey Stone got under it and set herself for a throw to the plate but dropped the ball.

“It’s tough for a high school girl to catch something and throw a strike to the plate,” said Jim Lunney. “We were going to send her, and it would have been a tough throw.”

The Rebels built a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Mills doubled in Kimball. Krystle Gould followed with a two-run single to score Farrington and Mills.

“We scored three runs, and we felt pretty good and bang, they’re right back in it,” said Jim Lunney.

Telstar opened the door for Georges Valley in the fourth. After a Rachel Strong double, an error on a Stone grounder made it 3-1. Juliette Laaka drove Stone in with a single. Then a Watts fielder’s choice scored Laaka to tie it. It was the first time all year, Telstar had lost a lead.

“One error and they came right back, but it was just like starting over,” said Kimball. “We were a little nervous. It was scary, but we did it.”