BETHEL – Kayla Merrill kept her team in Saturday’s game with her arm, but it was her legs that helped produce a thrilling 1-0 win.

The Telstar pitcher hurled a one-hitter in nine innings for the Rebels, but it was her hit and run scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth that broke a stalemate that gave Telstar the win over Jay in a Western C semifinal.

“Between that wild pitch and running out that hit, it was probably the fastest I’ve ever run,” said Merrill.

The Rebels (15-1) advance to Wednesday’s Western C final at St. Joseph’s College. Telstar has a rematch with Georges Valley. The defending state champs beat the Rebels in the regular season but lost to Telstar in the MVC title game.

“This is our fifth straight time going back to the Western Maine final,” said Telstar coach Jim Lunney, whose club lost to the Buccaneers in last year’s regional final. “That was the goal from the beginning of the season, and obviously we want to go one more step.”

Saturday’s rematch with the Tigers (14-4) was a pitching duel between Merrill and Jay’s Alexii Smith. Merrill allowed just one hit, a Netta Shank single in the seventh. Merrill struck out 10 and walked none. She was aided by some strong play in the field. Catcher Sam Largess made a pair of fine diving catches as the Rebels played errorless ball.

“I knew it was going to go for awhile because the last time we played nine innings,” said Merrill, who was the winning pitcher in a 6-3 win in Jay last month. “This time I did a lot better. I just busted them inside like coach said. I threw my screwball a lot, which I haven’t been doing. I just threw my screwball and my fastball inside.”

Smith only allowed three hits, two came in the ninth. She struck out one but walked just two and hit a batter.

“They had a great season,” said Lunney. “That’s a good team. It just came down to who gets a hit at the right time. I walked by their coach and said that ‘If this was a championship game, we should call it co-champions and get out of here.’ It was two good teams playing today, and a well-played game.

The winning run started with one out and a Merrill single. An error in the outfield allowed Merrill to sneak into second.

“I haven’t made anything happen in like three games,” said Merrill. “That was the time to come up with it.”

Clean-up hitter T.J. Cowin followed and drilled a sharp single. She took second on a fielder’s choice, giving the Rebels two runners in position with one out. Hannah Morin came to the plate with the plan of swinging away.

“We were showing bunt, but we were going to let the big girl swing and hope we get it out of the infield,” said Lunney. “It was unfortunate it was a (wild pitch).”

Morin faked the bunt on a high pitch for ball one. When Smith came with her second offering, it sailed over the head of catcher Liz LeBlanc. She raced to the backstop and relayed the ball home, but Merrill scampered home and slid in for the game-winner.

“I saw it go up and over, and I just ran in,” said Merrill. “The first pitch was a little up high, and the next one, when I saw it come out of her hand, it started high. I knew I had to go.”

While Merrill no-hit the Tigers for six innings, Telstar had runners on. Candace Hall walked in the first but was stranded at second. Sarah Averill reached in the third and stole second but was picked off when a Whitney Mills hit glance off Smith’s glove and the Tigers had a play at second. Hall singled in the same inning. Averill walked in the eighth but a Mills sharp hit was caught in the outfield to end the threat.

“They made some nice catches,” said Lunney. “We hit balls at them. We had opportunities to get a run in with a base hit. We hit it at them, and they made a couple nice plays.”