By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

AUBURN – The ball only traveled a few feet, but it went a long way towards a St. Dom’s victory Tuesday.

Autumn Bell’s bunt sparked two runs in the sixth inning to lift the Saints to a 3-1 Western C preliminary victory over Mt. Abram. Eight-seeded St. Dom’s advances to Thursday’s quarterfinal at top-ranked Telstar.

“It started the rally,” said catcher Mary Lewis. “Everyone was pumped up. We were up and excited, and everyone started hitting.”

The Saints (12-4) produced three of their six hits in the inning to break a 1-1 tie. Lewis singled in Bell and pitcher Danielle Jamison followed with an RBI single. “Right after that, the confidence went way up,” said Bell. “I got on and it was like, Let’s go.'”

The victory avenged a Saints loss to the Roadrunners last spring in the semifinals.

“The kids didn’t get rattled,” said St. Dom’s coach Dan Samson. “They stayed in it. The composure was there, and the kids came up with the clutch hits.” The Saints didn’t get many hits early. Whenever runners got on, Mt. Abram catcher Morgan Cummings threw them out stealing. Meanwhile, the Roadrunners were knocking on the door.

“Danielle pitched a decent game,” said Samson. “She kept us in the game the whole time, and Mary threw two kids out at second.” Mt. Abram (9-8) had its chances, stranding eight runners. Bethany Wheeler had three of Mt. Abram’s eight hits. The biggest threat came in the sixth, down 1-0.

The Roadrunners had two on with no outs but produced just one run.

“We had runners at second and third, and we had a strikeout and a pop-up,” said Mt. Abram coach Jeff Pillsbury. “All of our stuff happened late, with two outs.”

The Saints broke the stalemate in the fifth when Elisha Dorso singled up the middle off the glove of Mt. Abram hurler Logahn Walker.

The Roadrunners tied it in the sixth when Heather Hayes and Kenni Norton each reached base and advanced to second and third.

After an out, Emily Stinchfield singled to right, but Jamison produced the final two outs to end the inning.

St. Dom’s came right back in the bottom of the inning with Bell’s bunt.

“It was last minute,” she said. “I just had to do it to get on base. We needed another run.”

She advanced to second on a nice Robyn Kennedy bunt. After an out, Lewis singled to shallow right.

“I knew it was a tie game, and I knew we needed an extra run,” said Lewis. “I knew I just had to make contact with the ball and put it where the other team wasn’t.”

Lewis beat out the throw from the right fielder. By the time Lewis reached first, Bell was nearly home.

“I’m thinking I’m going home. I’m going home.'” said Bell. “I was ready to go home.”

Lewis advanced on a passed ball and scored on Jamison’s single.