JEFFERSON TWP— One run, one error, one close call.

They added up to a 1-0 girls softball victory for Hampton — and a tough defeat for Knoch — Tuesday afternoon.

The victory moved the Talbots (8-3, 7-2) a step closer to their first sectionchampionship. Mars has three losses in the section and Knoch has four.

Three days earlier, Hampton handed Knoch an 11-1 defeat. This win came nowhere near as easily.

Knoch defeated Hampton 5-4 in the first meeting between the teams this spring.

"That 11-1 game was an aberration,"Hampton coach Ron Feddell said. "Knoch had just played 11 innings the day before, and it was one of those games where every ball we hit found a hole."

Not this time.

The lone run of the game came in the fifth inning. With two outs and Amanda McGaughey on first, Hampton's Amy Zeis lined a single to right. The ball rolled under the right fielder's glove and allowed the runner to score from first base.

"That error killed us,"Knoch coach Scott Docherty said.

The Knights had missed a chance to take the lead in the second inning when Jade Thrower singled with one out and Amada Sheppeck doubled into the right field corner.

Docherty, who was coaching third, waved Thrower around the bag on Sheppeck's hit, then quickly put up the stop sign. Sheppeck was around second base and headed for third at the time.

"Itried yelling for (Sheppeck) to go back to second, but she didn't hear me,"Docherty said.

Instead, Thrower got into a rundown between third and home and was called out at the plate on a close play.

Docherty insisted she was safe.

"She clearly slid under the tag. The umpire missed that one,"he said. "Besides, the catcher was blocking the plate before she got the ball, and that's against the rules.

"It shouldn't have mattered because (Thrower) beat the tag anyway."

The second inning marked the only frame Knoch got a runner as far as second base.

Hampton ran itself out of an inning in the fourth. With runners at second and third and one out, courtesy runner Ashley DeVito tried scoring on a wild pitch, got caught in a rundown and was tagged out.

Lis Schulz hit a ball over the left field fence in the sixth that was barely foul. The Talbots went on to load the bases with one out in that inning, but Knoch pitcher Stephanie Fincher recorded a strikeout and a pop-up to escape damage.

"You wonder why a coach gets gray hairs,"Feddell said. "Sometimes, you feel like you're just not supposed to win a game."

Schulz tossed a four-hit shutout for Hampton, but struck out only two.

Hampton 000 010 0—1 5 0Knoch 000 000 0—0 4 3WP: Lis Schulz (7 IP) 2 strikeouts, 0 walks.

LP: Stephanie Fincher (7 IP) 6 strikeouts, 4 walks

Hampton (8-3, 7-2): Amy Zeis 1B, Lis Schulz 2-1B, Christine Newby 2-1B

Knoch (8-4, 6-4): Chelsea Martin 1B, Jade Thrower 1B, Amanda Sheppeck 2B 1B

Thursday: Knoch atHighlands