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Jose Lara knew in his gut who he needed in a clutch situation.

Lara’s sixth-seeded Pleasant Valley (31-9) softball squad was tied with defending Class 5A champion Waukee Northwest (31-12) in the sixth inning here on Monday.

Lara called on sophomore Sarah Rigdon in a pinch-hit situation, and she delivered. Rigdon ripped a single down the line to plate the winning run and give the Spartans a 5-4 victory.

“I could feel it,” Lara said about bringing Rigdon in. “She is a clutch player, and I felt it was a perfect situation for her.”

Pleasant Valley will now face Muscatine (33-6) in a Class 5A semifinal on Wednesday at 1 p.m. on Kruger Seeds Field.

The Spartans took a 4-2 lead after three innings until the Wolves tied the contest with two in the fifth, setting up Rigdon’s heroics.

“You can never count out the defending state champions,” Lara said. “It was a tight game and we knew they were always in it.

“We did a good job of moving runners around, but I felt we could do better. The two times we did, we made them count.”

Addison Ohda had a big day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a run scored. Katelyn Kiefer had two hits and drove in a run. Mary Paige Withers also drove in a run with a double.

“We knew any time that we put a crooked number up there, they could fight back,” said Jessie Clemons. “We figured the difference would be if we didn’t commit errors and just executed.

“We got four (runs) early in the game, we felt we could score again, so why not in the sixth.”

Sophomore pitcher Kaitlyn Merkel (14-4) earned the win, allowing six hits and four earned runs. Merkel also had an RBI at the plate.

“Our defense was crazy,” Merkel said. “They played for the whole team and came up big.

“This is huge for us to advance to the semifinals. I’m so pumped, I’m just jumping up and down.”

For the 2022 champion Wolves, Natalee Watts and Kaylee Cords had two hits each. Watts had a triple and Cords drove in a run.

Kiana Carnes, Ava Smith and Maggie Allen all drove in runs.

Third-seeded Waukee Northwest will now face seventh-seed Muscatine (32-7) on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. on Veterans’ Field.

PLEASANT VALLEY 5, WAUKEE NORTHWEST 4

Pleasant Valley 013 001 0 — 5 10 1

Waukee NW 011 020 0 — 4 6 1

WP–Kaitlyn Merkel, 7 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO; LP–Maddie Oetzman, 7 IP, 10 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 7 SO; LOB–Pleasant Valley 10, Waukee Northwest 5; 2B–PV: Mary Paige Withers, Katelyn Withers; 3B–WNW: Natalee Watts. S–PV: Withers, Kiefer, Kasey Kane; WNW: Oetzman, Aunya Van Zetten; SB–PV: Jessie Clemons (2), Ashley Hansen, Addison Ohda; WNW: Kiana Carnes; RBI–PV: Sarah Rigdon, Kiefer, Merkel, Withers; WNW: Carnes, Kaylee Cords, Ava Smith, Maggie Allen.