SCOTLAND — The door was open again and again, but nobody came home early in the game for the Chambersburg softball team.

But the Trojans, who stranded 8 runners in the first three innings and scored just once, came alive after Wilson took a 2-0 lead and went on to blast the Bulldogs 10-4 in a District 3 Class 6A semifinal game played at Greene Township Park on the turf field Wednesday afternoon.

Kylee Perry

Chambersburg (18-3), the No. 2 seed, will take on rival and No. 1 Central Dauphin (20-1) at 1 p.m. Thursday for the District 3 championship at Millersville University. The teams split in their two games earlier this season.

"We left a couple of small villages out there on base in the first three innings," Trojan coach Chris Skultety said. "We got a lot of runners on, but it always seemed to be with two outs."

Wilson pitcher Ava Legath walked 5 and hit two batters in the first three innings, but gave up only 2 hits.

Kylee Perry, who was 3-for-4 with an RBI, said, "We were pulling everything yesterday (in a win over Mechanicsburg), but today we just put our heads down and did wht we are supposed to do. I think we just wanted it more. I trust my team."

"The pitching today was faster, which I think helped us," said Hensley Brookens, who was 2-for-4 with a pair of runs knocked in. "I just felt we were ready for a big inning."

It took a while, but that's how Chambersburg broke the game open.

The Bulldogs, however, got on the board first. Three consecutive hard-hit singles off Issie Slimmer brought in two runs, with Legath and Kylea Fick driving in the runs.

In the third, Chambersburg got a leadoff hit by Perry and then made two outs and it appeared Legath might escape another inning. But she walked Kendall Flory, Sanay Jones and Piper Jones to bring in a run.

Skultety said, "We left the bases loaded, but just getting that one run after they went ahead was big."

In the bottom of the fourth, Erissa Varner and Addy Gsell led off with singles and Perry scored the tying run with a deep sacrifice fly to right. Marley Onomastico and Brookens then connected for run-scoring hits to bump the lead to 4-2. 

The Bulldogs made it 4-3 with a run in the fifth on a double by Kaya Werley and a hit by Maddy Snyder.

But then the bottom fell out for Wilson, with Chambersburg scoring six runs in the bottom half.

"We were due for that big inning," Skultety said. "Hitting is contagious and we got a few walks and took advantage."

The Trojans brought 11 batters to the plate, banged out five hits, took two walks and were helped by an error. Gsell led off with a double, Varner ripped a two-run single, Brookens and Sanay Jones had run-scoring base hits, a run scored on a fielder's choice grounder by Kendall Flory and an error let in another.

That left the score at 10-3, with the Bulldogs then scoring once in the top of the seventh.

Slimmer (16-3) ended up allowing 9 hits and 4 earned runs, walking two and striking out 4.

Now it's on to the final, where they will meet CD and ace pitcher Autumn Andreoli, trying to win the season series as well as a district title.

Brookens said, "I'm excited to play CD — we know it will be a big game. I'm actually grateful we're playing them because I like the competition."

NOTES: Wilson (21-5) will host South Western (17-6) for third place on Thursday … Varner, Gsell and Brookens each had 2 hits … Piper Jones was 0-1 with 3 walks and a run scored … Chambersburg beat CD 8-6 early in the season, then fell 2-1 in the second matchup.