Nazareth sophomore catcher Marco Fiore may never be more excited about grounding out than during the sixth inning Saturday.

The No. 3 hitter did his job and senior Landon Thome scored from third base with the eventual winning run as the Roadrunners edged De La Salle 3-1 in the Class 3A Nazareth Sectional final despite being no-hit for five innings.

“For sure (a memorable ground out),” Fiore said with a laugh. “It’s just like an adrenaline rush. You did something great finally. And you just go in the dugout and all of the boys are just cheering for you. It feels great.”

The Roadrunners (29-9) advance to the Crestwood Supersectional against St. Rita (27-12) at 5 p.m. Monday at Ozinga Field.

Nazareth won the 2022 and 2023 3A state championships but lost in the 4A sectionals the past two seasons.

The 10th sectional title in the past 15 seasons certainly wasn’t easy.

Senior winning pitcher Connor McKay (7-2) allowed just four hits in six innings with a season-high 10 strikeouts and one walk. Perhaps most important, he stranded runners on second and third in the sixth.

Sixth-inning doubles by Thome and Kam Alikhan – the Roadrunners’ only two hits – fueled the two-spot tiebreaker. They’re the two remaining members from the 2023 champions.

“We had a lot of energy in the dugout and I think that helped us out, even though we were getting no-hit through five,” Thome said.

“All of the guys have been doing their job lately and I feel like we’ve been getting hot at the right time.”

Fiore’s grounder against the drawn-in infield by the Meteors (23-16) was bobbled momentarily by second baseman Xavier Castro. Thome scored with no play.

“If we get someone on, our goal’s always is to score a run an inning,” Fiore said. “I just trying to hit one hard on the ground, score him. Locked in, I like blacked out.”

Alikhan then doubled down the third-base line. Alikhan stole third base and scored after an errant throw.

Both teams scored in the first. De La Salle freshman pitcher Vincente Amaro struck out four in his six innings.

“Well-pitched game on both sides,” Nazareth coach Lee Milano said. “That’s our recipe – pitching, playing defense and then trying to find ways to score runs. We found ways to score runs in that sixth inning.

“On the 2024 and 2023 teams, those teams could bop, a lot of guys in that lineup, and hit home runs. We don’t have the guys that can do that, which is not a knock on our team, but just what our team is. We know what we are and we play to our strengths.”

With two outs in the first, the Meteors got a double and RBI single. McKay then retired 13 of the next 14 hitters with nine strikeouts until two outs in the sixth.

“That’s the best that I’ve pitched in a while,” McKay said. “I had a shaky May so that was definitely a bounce back or me. Just the adrenaline, playoffs, staying locked in (helped).”

A double, single and uncontested stolen base put De La Salle runners on second and third. A soft line out to second baseman Todd Dulaney Jr. retired the side.

In the seventh, reliever Eddie Donnelly got two outs with a hit batter and Christian Drye fanned his one batter for his fourth save in four chances.

“It was a tough environment here, real loud, but I just had to go out there and do what I’ve got to do,” McKay said.

“I was actually yelling at (our batters) that we need a hit. That’s what I was more worried about because we weren’t getting hits but then (Thome and Alikhan) came around.”

In the Nazareth sixth, Thome’s leadoff double along the line in short left field nearly was caught by third baseman Oisin Curry, but instead deflected off his glove into foul territory. Gavin Hartigan, the next batter, bunted Thome to third.

“Trust in those guys (Hartigan and Fiore) and having guys that are dogs behind you, that helps with the lineup and then Connor on the mound shoving,” Thome said.

Nazareth received five walks, two to Thome, with two hit batters and the Meteors had three errors. But the Roadrunners had three runners thrown out stealing second, including Thome for only the second time this season.

Thome did steal second in the first and continued to third after the throw deflected off him. Thome scored on a two-out passed ball.

Nazareth played sophomores Fiore, Drye, Hartigan, Jimmy O’Connor and Nick Petrecca and freshman Dulaney Jr.

Amaro was among five freshman starters for De La Salle.

“(Amaro) went out there and dominated against a lineup that’s really good,” De La Salle coach Glenn Kubek said. “Awesome game. Sixth inning we had the guys on. We get a hit there, we break the game open and it changes the whole game.”