Right before McKell Gordon’s final at-bat in the game, her Spidey sense kicked in.

“In the dugout I was telling my teammates, ‘I got this tingly feeling that something is going to happen,’” she said.

When she got to the plate, with the game scoreless in the top of the eighth inning, Gordon then asked herself the question her Mingus coach often poses to his players, “Why do you play the game?”

For big moments such as Tuesday. That’s why.

Gordon didn’t wilt in the moment. She delivered, crushing a first pitch fastball over right-center at Rose Mofford Sports Complex to help send her team to the 4A softball semifinals after beating Greenway 1-0.

“Tears,” said Mingus coach John Brown when asked how he felt as he stood in the coach’s box watching Gordon round third. “I was excited for her. She needed it. We needed it. There’s a lot of good kids on this team, but nobody deserved it more than she does.”

Gordon was struggling at the plate, but all is forgotten.

Her fifth home run of the season came against MaxPreps’ national leader in strikeouts, Greenway junior Kaitlyn Terry.

“I was so excited,” Gordon said. “I think that was the fastest I’ve ever ran the bases in my life.”

Mingus managed to somehow beat Terry (23-3), the reigning Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year, twice in the tournament.

Up next for Mingus is another formidable assignment, defeating No. 1 Salpointe twice on Thursday to advance to Saturday’s final. But with senior pitcher Alexis Ayersman in the circle, 22-10 Mingus has a shot.

Alexis Ayersman is now 21-8 this season. Jose Garcia/azpreps365.com Ayersman (15 strikeouts, 4 hits allowed) and Terry (12 strikeouts, 3 hits allowed) were masterful once again. Terry’s fastball was sitting at about 66 miles per hour, the equivalent of a 93 miles per hour fastball in baseball.

        Greenway's Kaitlyn Terry leads in the nation in strikeouts. Jose Garcia/azpreps365.com.

Mingus also respected Terry’s bat so much that it intentionally walked the junior leadoff hitter the eight times it faced her in the tournament.

“Kaitlyn, hats off to her,” Brown said. “She’s an outstanding pitcher, but she can’t do it by herself. So if we can somehow eliminate her, we’ve got a fighting chance.”

Greenway (27-5) had some great chances to continue playing this season but stranded 11 batters, including eight in scoring position.

It had runners at second and third in the final two innings, but Ayersman got her team out of trouble each time to keep her team alive.