Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The St. Bernard’s players and coaches celebrate their NCS semifinal win on Tuesday.

By Ray Hamill — The St. Bernard’s Crusaders appear to be peaking at the right time.

On Tuesday evening, freshman pitcher Oni Orcutt and the SB defense posted their first shutout of the season on the way to a 4-0 win over Lower Lake in the Division-5 North Coast Section softball semifinals.

Playing in front of a large and enthusiastic home crowd in Samoa, the Crusaders scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to break open a tight game and added a fourth run in the sixth when speedy sophomore Sahara Tupua made it all the way home after a double she hit went under the Lower Lake left fielder’s glove.

And that was more than enough for Orcutt and her defense, as the Crusaders held on down the stretch.

The win sets up a championship showdown for the No. 6 seeds against No. 5 Berean Christian, which knocked off No. 1 Clear Lake 7-3 in Tuesday’s other semifinal.

The championship game will be played on either Friday or Saturday at Berean Christian.

The SB bats had problems against Lower Lake pitcher Mariah Bal the first time through the lineup and were held scoreless through the opening three innings with eight of their first nine batters striking out.

But as they have done for much of the season, this group of Crusaders did a good job adjusting and began to put the bat on the ball the second time through the lineup.

Freshman Kyna Tupua led off the bottom of the fourth with a base hit and would score a few minutes later on a wild pitch to open the scoring after stealing her way to second and advancing to third on a passed ball.

Her older sister, Sahara, was then walked and also stole her way around the bases before making it 2-0 on a Hannah Finck RBI groundout.

Makinsey Lemley then hit a one-out double and would score a few minutes later on a Bailee White fly ball to make it 3-0.

Two innings later, Sahara Tupua added an insurance run on an exciting play.

She hit the ball hard to left field, where the ball slipped under the outfielder’s glove, and that was all the encouragement the tenacious sophomore would need.

“She came out of the box at full speed,” St. Bernard’s head coach Brian Finck said. “Anytime it goes to grass, she’s looking for two.”

Even her coach misjudged has fast she is from his position at third base.

“I gave her the stop sign, but she blew right through it,” he added with a chuckle. “She is blessed with speed.”

The big story of the game, however, was the St. Bernard’s defense, which has barely put a glove wrong in their three playoff games.

White made some key plays at shortstop and junior Sarah Luna “did a wonderful job in right field,” according to her head coach, while making a couple of big catches in the swirling wind and with the sun in her eyes.

Senior catcher Hannah Finck also impressed behind the plate and threw out a pair of Lower Lake runners trying to steal second.

Second baseman Emma Mowery capped a strong defensive performance with a game-ending double play that saw her tag a runner going to second before throwing to first baseman Kiara McGinnis to complete the big play and send her team on to the championship game.

“Defensively we did really well,” Brian Finck said.

Sahara Tupua finished with two of the Crusaders’ four hits and also had one of their three walks, while Kyna Tupua and Lemley each also had a hit, with the latter also walking.

Aubree Saunderson also displayed her eye at the plate and added a walk in one of her two at-bats.

When they take on Berean Christian, the Crusaders will be playing for their first NCS crown since 2011 and just their fourth ever.

“It’s pretty impressive,” Brian Finck said of getting to the championship game. “We’ll keep on riding this wave as long as we can.”

And with the way this group of players is playing right now, they may not be done for a while yet, with the winner of the championship game advancing to next week’s CIF NorCal tournament.

“We’ve got a lot of players that complement each other,” Brian Finck said. “This team is really coming together. Defensively we’re strong and offensively we’re scratching some runs together against some of these pitchers. We’ve got some power and we’ve got some speed on the bases.”

The Berean Christian girls knocked off a pair of higher seeds on their way to the championship game, beating No. 4 University 6-5 in their quarterfinal and following that with Tuesday’s win at No. 1 Clear Lake.

They are 12-6 on the season.

The Crusaders are now 19-9 and have won 10 of their last 11 games as they continue to build momentum.

They previously won NCS championships in 1994, 2009 and 2011.