Trailing 8-3 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning of the 1A softball state championship, the Williams Vikings knew their season was about to end.

Just kidding. It was actually the complete opposite.

“We were still up,” said Williams senior Makaela Mackay, who ignited a seven-run outburst in the home half of the fifth with a leadoff triple. “We knew we could still do it. We really got our heads in it. We just had to do us, and we got it done.”

By the time Mackay and her teammates were done, the No. 1 seed held a two run lead, which they didn’t relinquish en route to a 11-9 hard fought win over No. 3 seed Joseph City Friday at Arizona State’s Farrington Stadium.

The title was the second in three years for the Vikings’ core.

After Mackay tripled to right off Wildcats’ starter Kayle James, the Vikings’ Cheznie Carter followed with a one out RBI double to right center, plating Mackay.

They were just getting started. After successive singles by Kai Mortensen and Riley McNelly, back-to-back walks to Shaelee Echeverria and Shiane Alvarado, and a few errors and two wild pitches sprinkled in, the Vikings (28-6) completed the miraculous comeback and led 9-8.

Mackay closed out the scoring in the frame the way she started it, with another triple, plating Alvarado.

“It was just play the game as normal,” said Williams’ elated coach Raul Hatch. “Let’s just get one run at a time. Just do it, and, uh, they rode the enthusiasm. They rode the adrenaline, and they got it done.”

The Wildcats, however, did not quit after the rough inning, getting one of the runs back in the top of the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Kadence Armstrong, which scored James.

But a run by Carter in the bottom of the sixth, and a nifty potential rally killing double play by Echeverria in the top of the seventh sealed the victory for the Vikings and winning pitcher Mortensen, who went the distance.

Joseph City (29-4) looked poised for the upset through two innings, leading 4-1 with the help of a first inning homer off the bat of James.

That lead grew to the aforementioned 8-3 lead when a two-run fourth (RBIs by Maddy Powers and Kassidy Juarez) and two additional runs in the fifth on back-to-back sacrifice flies by Stasha Murdock and Brooklyn Peterson gave the Wildcats the commanding advantage.

But the late game heroics by Mackay and company would dash Joseph City’s dream.

“I am ecstatic,” Mackay added. “We finally brought it home after all these years. We deserved it. Our team deserved.”