Northern Nash first baseman Samantha Gurganus shuffled through a crowd filled with green and gold early Wednesday night, her sunburned shoulders slumped after seven innings on the diamond, her brown eyes opened wide in what she described as "shock."

Only minutes earlier, Gurganus had extended her arms and slapped a two-run single up the middle of the infield, past the pitcher and the second baseman and the shortstop, that punctuated another comeback for the Knights and, more important, saved their season with an 11-10 win over the Southern Alamance Patriots in the third round of the NCHSAA 3-A state playoffs. And now, with one more home playoffs game on the schedule, Gurganus received one handshake and clap on the back after another from teammates and fans.

"This is a blur," Gurganus said. "I don't even know what to say."

The single capped an up-and-down, back-and-forth afternoon and early evening for the Knights (21-4) who lost a player for the rest of the season during the second inning because of a fractured wrist, rallied two times in the last four innings and are now one win from playing in the state championship series at Walnut Creek. And they managed to do it all against the Patriots (23-6), a team that has been ranked as high as No. 2 in 3-A state polls this season.

"We never quit," coach Greg Tharrington said. "We can beat anybody if we want to win badly enough."

But for a long time Wednesday, the Knights did not play is as if they were going to win.

Right-hander Raven Lee allowed an unearned run in the first inning, then allowed two more unearned runs in the second inning. The Knights loaded the bases in each of the first two innings, but did not score a run. And right fielder Betsy Braswell, a freshman with power at the plate and a nasty fastball in the pitcher's circle, broke bones above her right wrist after she was hit by a pitch in the second. The bum news continued to pour in for Northern Nash after Southern Alamance third baseman Kelli Holt hit a two-run over the left-field wall in the fourth.

And then the game started to turn.

With Braswell shuttled off an area hospital for X-rays, Northern Nash managed to string together three singles, two sacrifice bunts and an error in the bottom of the fourth to score three runs. And then, on the first pitch, Lee hit a liner toward left field that soared just high enough and just long enough to fly over the wall and bend around the foul pole.

A grand slam.

And a 7-5 lead.

From that point, the game turned again and again. Southern Alamance tied the game in the top of the fifth. Northern Nash scored another run in the bottom of the fifth to grab the lead again. The Patriots scored three runs in the top of the sixth for a 10-8 lead.

The Knights did not score in the bottom of the sixth, but Lee struck out three batters in the top of the seventh.

And then Southern Alamance botched three straight plays in the top of the seventh, Northern Nash scored one run and Gurganus hit that single up the middle.

The celebrations started as soon as second baseman Melissa Avent and third baseman Lindsay Bailey finished their mad sprints around the bases to score the tying and winning runs.

"Sometimes," Tharrington said, "it doesn't work out like you planned. But if we win like that, I can adjust."

Matt LaWell can be reached at 407-9952 or mlawell@coxnc.com

Northern Nash 11

Southern Alamance 10

SA 120 223 0 – 10 12 4

NN 000 710 3 – 11 12 4

WP: Raven Lee (7-0, 3 2-3IP, 3R, 0ER, 4H, 2BB, 5K); LP: Nikki Edwards (6 2-3IP, 11R, 8ER, 12H, 4BB, 1HB, 7K).

2B: Dakota Collins 2 (SA), Krista Sayre (SA), Simone Carden (SA), Samantha Patterson (SA); HR: Raven Lee (NN); Kelli Holt (SA).