MARIETTA - Walton appeared to have made the smart decision, even though it backfired.

Who could have blamed the Lady Raiders for intentionally walking Kell catcher Kelsey Mericka to load the bases with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning? After all, she had a .614 average with five home runs and 35 RBIs heading into Tuesday's final game of the teams' Region 6AAAAA semifinal series.

But Taylor Scarp-antonio, who came to the plate hitless on the day, hit a two-run single to break the game open as the Lady Longhorns went on to secure a 6-1 victory over Walton.

Top-seeded Kell (19-6) will now host second-seeded Lassiter to begin the best-of-three region championship series starting today.

Walton coach Kevin Adams didn't regret the decision to give Mericka a free pass. Walton had just scored on an RBI single by Camilla Gibson in the top of the fifth to cut the Kell lead to 2-1, which meant the Lady Raiders were still in the game when Mericka was intentionally walked.

"It's a gamble worth taking every time," Adams said. "I got a lot of respect for Kelsey as a batter, and she can put one out on any pitch. I'll take that chance."

Before Mericka got on base, the bottom of the fifth began with an Ashley Langley infield single down the third-base line. Whitney Okvist followed with a grounder to first and beat Kalie Hastings to the bag.

After Scarpantonio scored Langley and Okvist with her hit to center, and gave the Lady Longhorns a 4-1 lead, Natalie Boyd recorded her third RBI of the game with a double to center, scoring courtesy runner Allie Sheffield. Katie Blair then followed up with a sacrifice fly to score Scarpantonio.

"Taylor is a good hitter, and doesn't get all the credit when she bats behind Kelsey, but she did a real good job," Kell coach Kristy Simpson said. "Hopefully, that will make teams think twice about pitching around Kelsey."

After Kell opened the lead, Boyd and the defense around her were determined to keep Walton quiet, especially after the Lady Raiders rallied from a three-run deficit Saturday to win Game 2 of the series and force Tuesday's decisive third game.

Walton threatened with one out in the sixth when Hastings hit her second double of the game to left field, but she was left stranded when Scarpontonio made a running catch at shortstop to end the inning.

Boyd, who gave up one run on four hits and struck out four, retired the side in the seventh to seal the victory.

"It was really nice to finish. I'm pretty sore from this weekend - it was difficult - but I'm glad that we won," Boyd said. "We really needed to win. It's not that we wanted to, we needed to."