KNIGHTDALE - Defense and pitching vaulted the Green Hope softball team into Knightdale High School’s Round Table Classic championship, and now coach Michelle Then hopes the Falcons use the championship to vault into the state playoffs.

The Falcons defeated Leesville Road 3-1 in the championship game of the eight-team field with freshman pitcher Ali Then getting the win and taking the tournament MVP honors. She was also the winning pitcher in an 8-1 win over Enloe and a 4-2 win over Knightdale in the first two rounds.

Green Hope lost to Leesville Road twice earlier in the year, but the young team is now 10-9 overall and chasing one of the Tri-Nine 4-A Conference’s five playoff spots.

“It’s a tough league, and we come back from the break with a very difficult schedule,” the coach said. “Hopefully this will give us some momentum for the rest of the season.”

The Falcons scored two in the top of the first, and it would be all they would need.

The leadoff hitter, catcher Lexi Ross, walked, second baseman Jessi Beech singled in Ross, and Beech then scored on a throwing error. Beech collected three of the Falcons’ hits, and shortstop Erica Taylor had two hits for the winners.

“Ali pitched well in the tournament, and we’ve got another good pitcher in sophomore Lindsey Hilts,” Then said. “Lindsey made some key plays at third in this game and is one of our top hitters on the season.”

Leesville Road fell to 14-4 with the loss.

“We got the pitching we needed and the defense was strong, but the bats let us down,” Leesville Road coach Suzanne Tadlock said. “And Green Hope made some great defensive plays.”

Senior Brittany Belscher is 14-4 as a pitcher and one of the Pride’s top hitters, along with catcher Lindsey Jones.

“We haven’t been dominant in any one area, so everybody has to bring it every game,” Tadlock said. “And we’ve had freshmen Laura Zievis and Erin James adjust to the varsity level.”

Host Knightdale was hoping to be in the title game, but after the 4-2 loss to Green Hope, it had to settle for third with a 14-6 win over Millbrook.

The Knights are 14-2 overall and tied for first in another strong league, the Greater Neuse River 4-A Conference.

“We have played great defense coming into this tournament,” Knightdale coach Adam Hamrick said. “We only had five errors in our first 14 games.”

Taylor, Beech and Ross joined Then on the all-tournament team, along with Leesville Road’s Zievis, Kaitlyn O’Shea, and Belscher; Knightdale’s Sargent and Champions; East Wake’s Ashlee Miller and Lauren Miller; Millbrook’s Tori Noland and Miaya Alston; Enloe’s Robyn Levine; Sanderson’s Sara Smothers; and Heritage’s Jenny Voegeli.