GARNER — The Fuquay-Varina softball team hadn't scored since the third inning, and there wasn't much reason to think that would change in the top of the 10th with the 5-7 hitters due up next in a 3-3 ball game with Garner.

But the Lady Bengals sent up nine batters in the 10th, scoring five on five hits, one walk and an error and Deb Clarke's team will be playing again on Friday in the fourth round of the NCHSAA 4-A softball playoffs.

"Once we got those first three it was shutdown city," Clarke said. "We came in here every inning and said 'we can do it, we can do it,' over and over again. We just tried to get a runner on and move'em around and our bats woke up a little bit."

The opponent on Friday will be all-too-familiar for Fuquay, as it will face Apex for the third time this season. The Bengals (19-4) have handed Apex its only two losses this year.

"It's hard to beat a team three times in a row," Clarke said. "I feel that we can produce all through the lineup ... and then Alex [Ryan] takes care of the rest."

Fuquay scored just one run after loading the bases with no outs in the top half of the first. That one run came by virtue of a bases-loaded walk to Natalie Budde that scored center fielder Camise Patterson.

In the third, Budde made the score 3-0 Fuquay after lifting a two-run homer over the left field wall.

Just before that inning, Garner pitcher Christie Wright vomited on the mound but was left in the game, but she recovered to throw six more innings of shutout ball.

In all, Wright threw 190 pitches and faced 48 batters before being pulled in the 10th. She also had the game-tying RBI in the sixth and was at the plate for all three Garner runs.

"I can't say enough about [Wright] to tell you the truth," Moe Barbour said. "That was as good an effort as I've ever seen."

Fuquay pitcher Alex Ryan, who pitched all 10 innings and struck out nine, allowed Garner's first run on a wild pitch in the fourth.

After retiring 14 of the first 16 batters she faced, Ryan gave up a two-out single to Wright that scored two and tied the game at three apiece in the sixth.

The score stayed even until the 10th, but Garner nearly took the game in the bottom of the seventh. After a lead-off single, Fuquay got a force out at second as shortstop Alexa Cannon stepped on the bag just before the runner slid in.

That set up an inning-ending strike'em-out-throw'em-out play, as catcher Alyssa White gunned down the runner at first to end the threat altogether.

In the top of the 10th, Fuquay's Hannah Wallace singled with one out. Next, it appeared Alyssa White had hit into a force-out at second, but Garner second baseman Haley Warner inexplicably dropped the ball as she tried to squeeze it in her glove.

The runners advanced to second third on a wild pitch before Jacqueline Jones hit one right back at Wright, who fired it home for a bang-bang play at the plate. Pinch-runner Rachel Honrine slid in safely under the tag at home for the go-ahead run, and her team never looked back.

Fuquay also saw Jessi Johnson, Cannon, Patterson and Ryan all reach base in the five-run rally.

"Garner just fell apart a little bit," Clarke said. "You could just see our momentum."

In the first meeting with Apex, Fuquay won 5-4 on a walk-off when Cougar shortstop Sam Slade dropped a soft liner with two outs, which allowed Patterson to score from second.

In the second, Fuquay jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning and held on to win 3-0.

The third match-up between the two teams this year will be on Friday, at a time yet to be determined.