Logan Laudadio captured a fly ball in right field and fired it home.

With Crystal Lake Central’s season in the balance, Laudadio’s throw soared through the air as Grayslake Central’s Jayson Domerchie attempted to score the winning run in Wednesday’s Class 3A Grayslake Central Sectional semifinal baseball game.

As Tigers catcher Max Geske rose to snag the ball, Domerchie beat Laudadio’s throw to the plate.

The walk-off sacrifice fly, which Grayslake Central’s Beckham Stone delivered with one out in the bottom of the seventh, sealed a 4-3 win for the No. 3-seeded Rams and a season-ending defeat for the No. 9 Tigers. Grayslake Central (28-8) will return to its home field and face Crystal Lake South for a sectional title at 11 a.m. Saturday.

“We competed like we did all year,” Crystal Lake Central coach Cal Aldridge said. “We gave ourselves an opportunity to win the game. I couldn’t be more proud of the way we competed, and the guys we had show up on a daily basis. From where we started this year ... to finish over .500 is pretty special. They really had to come together.”

Primed for an upset, Crystal Lake Central (19-16) kept the Rams within one before taking the lead with a three-run top of the fifth. The Tigers tied the score when Johnny Geisser delivered a line-drive RBI single. After leadoff man Nick Kohlhase laid down a sacrifice bunt, Laudadio belted a go-ahead, two-run single into center field.

“I was trying to work the middle and opposite fields,” said Laudadio, who went 2 for 4 with a pair of singles. “In that situation, just putting the ball in play would’ve gotten the lead and the job done. I was looking for a ground ball up the middle, not at the corners. My approach was to go up the middle and it just happened to work out.”

Trailing for the first time, Grayslake Central earned one back in the bottom of the fifth. The Tigers nearly escaped with an inning-ending double play on a ground ball to second. Domerchie rolled the ball to second and Grant Bellino flipped to the base for one, but shortstop Ethan Wolf’s throw bounced past first baseman Konner Altergott.

A nearly identical scenario allowed the Rams to even the score in the sixth. Looking to protect Crystal Lake Central’s lead, reliever Niklas Thorsen fielded a sacrifice bunt for one out and forced Grayslake Central’s Soren Hansen to ground to third. Kohlhase fired the ball to second for one, but on the turn to first, Bellino’s throw bounced away.

The Tigers went down in order to start the seventh. Turning to Geisser in relief, Crystal Lake Central looked to stretch the game into extras. But after Domerchie drew a lead-off walk and advanced to second on a passed ball, Carson Woods flied to center, moving Domerchie over. Stone’s 0-1 swing, a fly ball to right field, drove the winning run in.

“We fight no matter what,” Geisser said. “We beat Huntley, we beat McHenry and we’ll put up a fight against any team.”

Wade Ozment took the ball to start Wednesday’s game for Crystal Lake Central. The junior right-hander and Illinois recruit pitched five innings, holding the Rams to two runs on four hits while striking out three. Derek Caldwell started for Grayslake Central, throwing 4⅓ innings and allowing three runs on three hits with three strikeouts.

“I knew the atmosphere was going to be kind of crazy,” said Ozment, who recovered after taking a ball off his hand early in the game. “They kind of got to me in the first inning, but I settled in after that. It was kind of hard to squeeze my hand, but I just tried to battle through it. I was just trying to throw it down the middle and blow it by them.”