For six innings, Robinson High's baseball team dominated Archbishop McCarthy, winners of four of the past five state championships.
Then the chapter closed on the Knights storybook season. Archbishop McCarthy scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat Robinson 8-7 and advance to the Class 5A title game.
The Mavericks will play for the championship LIVE on BHSN Saturday at 4 p.m.
The Knights were two outs, with a two-run lead away from advancing to the title game before Archbishop McCarthy's rally.
Robinson didn't waste any time in establishing their dominance. The Knights scored four runs in the top of the first. A Robinson throwing error scored the first run for the Mavericks to make it 4-1 after one.
The Knights tacked on two more runs in the third with Jack White's RBI and a passed ball that scored Ricardo Montero for a 6-1 lead.
Archbishop McCarthy cut the lead to three with two runs in the bottom of the third.
Robinson took advantage of a fielding error to tack on another run in the fifth.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Mavericks made things interesting when they scored two runs to make it 7-5.
Clinging to a two-run lead in the bottom of the seventh, Robinson's Darius Autry made an amazing diving catch in center field for the first out. Then the Mavericks loaded the bases, setting up Dylan Bautista's two-run single to tie the game at 7-all.
With runners on first and third, Adan Fernandez's RBI hit off the monster scored the winning run.