The third time wasn't the charm for Waterloo East.

Kaitlyn Davidson's RBI single in the bottom of the fifth inning broke a 4-4 tie and sent seventh-ranked Jefferson past Waterloo East, 7-4, Monday night in a Class 4A regional semifinal tournament game at Jefferson.

Jefferson advances to Wednesday's regional final against the winner of the Marshalltown-West Des Moines Dowling. That game was postponed from Monday to Tuesday night. The game Wednesday is scheduled to be played at Marshalltown.

Jefferson (32-7) was playing East (19-21) for the third time in the past five days. Jefferson won a pair at East Thursday night. Monday's game also was the second time both teams got to try to figure out the others ace pitcher. Jefferson junior Hannah Petersen and East's Alyson Netty hooked up in pitchers duel in last Thursday's opener, won by the J-Hawks 2-1 in 10 innings. That game took nine innings for either team to score.

It appeared Monday that both teams had figured out each other's pitcher. Jefferson had eight hits, East seven.

“We knew what Netty would throw and they knew what Pete (Petersen) would throw,” Jefferson Coach Larry Niemeyer said. “It was kind of a standoff.”

Jefferson got on the board about as early as possible. After working the count to 3 balls, 2 strikes in the bottom of the first inning, J-hawk leadoff batter Rachel Sedlacek hit a laser over the right-field fence to give the J-Hawks a 1-0 lead.

Jefferson tacked on another in the third when Petersen laid down a sacrifice bunt that scored junior Kailey Drake, who had walked and swiped a pair of bases.

Waterloo East fought back in the fourth inning. Freshman Ashley Kubik hit a two-run home run to tie the game, 2-2.

Jefferson reclaimed the lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth. After a walk, a hit by batsman, and sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third, Drake beat out an infield single to drive home a run. Jefferson got their second run of the inning on an errant throw.

East knotted the score with two in the fifth. Netty tripled to drive home the first run and then scored on an RBI single from sophomore Kenzi Wroe.

The J-Hawks responded with three runs in the bottom half of the fifth. After a pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases, Davidson came through with what turned out to be the game-winning RBI on a single to left. Jefferson got two more runs on a throwing error.

“I knew I had to lay off the high pitch and get something out of the infield with the bases loaded,” Davidson said. “It (the pitch) was inside. I turned on it and kept my hands level.”

Petersen got out of a first and second situation in the sixth and cruised through the seventh to secure a spot in the regional finals.

WATERLOO EAST (4)
Katelyn Kinnetz, SS, 3 1 2 0, Alyson Netty, P, 4 1 1 1, Kelsey Rash, 1B, 3 0 1 0, Alison Nichols, pr, 0 1 0 0, Maggie Nichols, LF, 4 0 0 0, Ashley Kubik, C, 3 1 1 2, Kenzi Wroe, 3B, 4 0 2 1, Katie Henry, CF, 2 0 0 0, Jessica Kinnetz, ph, 1 0 0 0, Deanna Schmidt, 2B, 2 0 0 0, Meghan Thompson, DP, 3 0 0 0, Kelsey Kreiner, RF, 0 0 0 0. Totals 29 4 7 4.

JEFFERSON (7)
Rachel Sedlacek, LF, 4 1 1 1, Kailey Drake, CF, 3 1 1 1, Hannah Petersen, P, 3 0 0 1, Kenna Fry, 1B, 4 0 2 0, Ashley Madsen, pr, 0 1 0 0, Maddie Hanson, DP, 2 0 2 0, Hannah Towns, pr, 0 1 0 0, Carson Burgart, SS, 3 0 0 0, Amber Grimm, RF, 0 2 0 0, Kaitlyn Davidson, 2B, 2 1 2 1, Maddy Blietz, 3B, 1 0 0 0, Katie Naber, ph, 1 0 0 0, Nicole Marquart, C, 0 0 0 0. Totals 23 7 8 4.

Waterloo East 000 220 0 -  4  7  3
Jefferson        101 230 x -  7  8  1

Netty and Kubik. Petersen and Marquart. W – Petersen. L – Netty. 3B – Netty. HR – Kubik, Sedlacek. SB – Drake 2.