BETHEL — Nicena Walker approached the plate knowing just what one swing of the bat could do Saturday.

Her Telstar softball team was already up three runs. With the way Kayla Merrill was pitching and the way the Rebel defense was playing, a hit with the bases loaded in the second inning just might stomp on Madison’s upset hopes once and for all.

“I was really nervous because I had forgotten how she was pitching,” Walker said of Madison’s Emily McKenney. “I just went up there trying to think about breathing and getting through it.”

It ended up being the Bulldogs that were hoping to survive the inning. Walker belted a two-run single to right, and the Rebels produced three more hits to break the game open in a 12-0 victory in their Western C semifinal. The game was shortened to five innings because of the mercy rule.

“Kayla threw well and is spotting the ball well,” Telstar coach Jim Lunney said. “She feels good about her pitches right now. She’s hitting corners. Kayla’s throwing well and we’re hitting well. We’re hitting on all cylinders right now.”

Telstar (16-1) advances to Wednesday afternoon’s Western C final at Saint Joseph’s College. It will be the seventh straight trip for the Rebels, who beat Georges Valley last year on their way to the Class C state title.

“It’s really exciting,” said Walker, a senior first baseman. “We only lost three seniors, but we still had to work. We had to find a catcher. When Lyndsay (Merrill) began to catch. We had to find a shortstop. It was tough work at the beginning.”

Walker finished with three RBIs and one hit. Lyndsay Merrill had three hits, scored three runs and drove in another while Tasha Farnum also had three hits and an RBI. Kayla Merrill scored three times, drove in a pair with two hits, and Hannah Morin also drove in a pair with a hit.

“Once we start hitting, everybody gets a lot more confidence in the field, and once we get runs, everybody is more comfortable,” junior catcher Lyndsay Merrill said.

Kayla Merrill allowed three hits and struck out seven. It was her fourth straight shutout and third blanking of Madison (11-7) this season. She did a nice job moving pitches in and out and hit the corners.

“I didn’t really do anything different,” Lyndsay Merrill said about calling pitches for her sister. “I just kind of went along. They had trouble with the inside pitches in the beginning. So we just kept going with that.”

Madison started the game with a single by Natalie Michaud. She reached third on a stolen base and wild pitch, but Merrill struck out the next three batters.

In the bottom of the inning, Kayla Merrill singled in her sister and later scored on a Walker sacrifice fly.

In the second,  Madison got two quick outs. After Lyndsay Merrill singled home Victoria Forkus, the Rebels loaded the bases with a walk and a hit. Walker followed with her single to right, making it 5-0.

“It helped a lot when everybody started hitting,” Walker said. “It gets us up and you could see on their faces that they were starting to give up.”

Morin followed with a two-run single. After a Farnum hit, Forkus singled in a run and later scored on an error to make it 9-0.

“Our two-out hitting was really good,” sophomore shortstop Autumn Berry said. “We were really pumped up to get around the bases.”

That was all Merrill needed. Berry led the defensive effort with a nice catch near the third-base foul line. She also started a well-executed double play in which she fielded a grounder and gunned the runner out at first. Walker threw back across the diamond to Katie Sumner to get the runner at third.

Telstar finished the job in the fifth. Lyndsay Merrill scored on a fielder’s choice by her sister. Sumner scored on an error, and then Farunum singled in Kayla Merrill to end the game.

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