Fuqua School’s varsity softball team put itself in position Thursday to play for its second straight state championship. The No. 1-seeded Lady Falcons took a 6-2 lead against No. 3 Southampton Academy, endured a late Lady Raiders rally and held on for a 7-6 win Thursday in the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association (VISAA) Division III state semifinals at RF&P Park in Glen Allen.

The victory sets up a rematch of last year’s state final, because on the neighboring field Thursday, No. 4 Kenston Forest School defeated No. 2 Brunswick Academy 9-2 in the other semifinal. The Lady Falcons (14-5) and the Lady Kavaliers (25-7) will play for the state championship 5 p.m. Friday at RF&P Park, located at 3400 Mountain Road.

Reflecting on his team’s semifinal game, Fuqua Head Coach Mike Ford said, “Tough game right there, man. We couldn’t quite get the traction we needed to pull away, and they made a nice run at the end.”

The Lady Falcons held a 7-3 lead in the seventh inning when Southampton shrunk it down to 7-6 with no outs and the tying run on second base.

Ford said the key to holding the Lady Raiders off was getting the first out. That first out came via a strikeout from senior pitcher Regan Ware. Then Southampton flew out to left field, and out No. 3 occurred due to a clutch play by junior Abbie Schmidt.

Recounting the three outs, Ford said, “It was a strikeout and then the fly ball to left, and Abbie threw the girl out at first.”

The Lady Raiders out-hit Fuqua on the day, 12-7, but the Lady Falcons enjoyed more benefit from their hits early on.

“Regan swung the bat well,” Ford said. “Brittany (Malone) swung the bat well. We swung the bat well early. I thought that we kind of went downhill a little bit.”

He credited the Southampton pitcher with improving as the game progressed.

Malone, a senior, led Fuqua with two hits, a single and a stand-up double. Five other Lady Falcons had one hit apiece, including Ware, whose hit was a three-run homer that took her team from a narrow 3-2 lead to a 6-2 advantage.

Fuqua senior Hannah-Gray Schmidt started in the circle, pitching 1 2/3 innings and registering the win. In 5 1/3 innings pitched, Ware earned the save. She threw four strikeouts.

In last year’s state title game, the Lady Falcons routed the young Lady Kavaliers 17-2. The Lady Kavs remain young, but they have more experience this year, and in between seasons via transfer, they gained junior shortstop Peyton Coleman, a former Brunswick Academy star who was the 2018 Virginia Colonial Conference Player of the Year.

“We ain’t sneaking up on nobody anymore,” Ford said, looking ahead to Friday’s state final. “It’ll be a battle. They’re going to come hard, and we know that. We’ll just be prepared and battle.”