By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

JAY – The first inning told you all you needed to know.

When Bree Loon started the game with three straight balls and the Jay Tigers were caught flat-footed in the field by a determined Telstar team, the writing was on the wall.

The Rebels went into Saturday’s Western C semifinal game with something to prove and wasted little time doing it. The top-ranked Tigers fell behind early and never recovered as Telstar advanced to Wednesday’s regional final with a 2-0 victory.

“We always get up to play Jay,” said Telstar catcher Liz Rosenberg. “They’re a good team to play against. Bree is an awesome pitcher, and they have some good players. We just got up and were ready to play. We knew we came in here last time thinking we were going to win anyway. So we wanted to come in and prove how good we are.”

The Rebels left Jay a little dismayed in a 3-1 regular-season loss. Telstar remembered that disappointment and showed what it was lacking this time.

“We were glad to come back to Jay,” said Telstar coach Jim Lunney. “We had unfinished business.”

Telstar only had four hits off the MVC Pitcher of the Year. Loon struck out 12 and walked one, but the Rebels got enough offense and were helped by three Tiger errors.

“Bree settled down after four innings and pitched well,” said Jay coach Robin Roberts. “We settled down and played some defense. A walk to start the game, I thought she was trying to be cautious with their top hitters.”

Telstar pitcher Jillian Kimball drew a lead-off walk. As soon a Tiffany Jordan dropped a bunt, Kimball was off and running. Jay didn’t get Jordan at first, and Kimball took third on the play. Jordan even advanced when no Tiger covered the bag as Kimball beat the throw at third.

“Any chance we could, we were going to take the extra base,” said Kimball. “It just happened that I beat the throw to third.”

Loon got a strikeout and went to a full count on Rosenberg before the Rebel catcher grounded to second, scoring Kimball.

“It showed them, scoring right off in the first inning, that they were going to have to step it up,” said Kimball.

The Rebels made it 2-0 in the third. Jordan reached on an error. After a flyout, Rosenberg singled to left. Jordan scored easily from second when the Tiger outfielder casually threw the ball back to the infield.

“It was a laugh because usually I hit to right field, and I pulled it,” said Rosenberg. “But that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to hit it and score the run.”

The Tigers had just three hits off Kimball and couldn’t mount any threat. Kaylie DeMillo singled in the first but was picked off trying to steal third. Brittany Frailey and Sara Fetterhoff had the only other hits.

“When you play a good team like that and you fall behind, the girls get a little nervous,” said Roberts. “The last couple of innings, we didn’t want to take any chances because we didn’t want to run into any outs. We didn’t hit the ball really hard.”

Telstar shortstop Jessie Farrington made a pair of sparkling catches and teamed up with Kimball and Chelsea Cozzolino at first for a double play in the seventh.

“We never got in trouble,” said Lunney. “We kept them off base. We kept it so we didn’t have the pressure situations.”