SULPHUR — There’s something special about playoff baseball that makes every passing inning a little more intense. Add to that a pair of pitchers who turn in top-shelf performances with so much on the line, and the drama is magnified.

For eight innings and most of a ninth Thursday in a Division III state semifinal game, Catholic High School’s Broc Romero and Chase Habetz from Notre Dame were in full command and doing their best to torque up the pressure on both teams.

Finally, it was a combination of a gritty base-running gamble and a clutch swing that ended a scoreless standoff.

Pioneers senior Garrett Bergeron poked a two-out seeing-eye single through the left side right after Collin Kirsch bolted from second base and the combination of the defensive reaction and runner breaking added up to the winning — and only — run as Notre Dame prevailed 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth inning.

“That’s how a state semifinal game is supposed to be played,” Catholic coach David Jordan said. “They made a play in their last chance and we just missed coming up with one. That’s baseball. It’s a tough way to lose, but if we’re going to lose at this point, that’s how you want to go out.”

The Pioneers (26-8) advanced to take on No. 1 seed St. Thomas Aquinas (30-4), which edged Dunham School 5-2, at 5 p.m. Saturday in the Division III state championship game.

To get there, Notre Dame had to finally solve the left-handed Romero, who had his foe tied in knots most of the day. Romero went into the ninth inning having retired 16 of the previous 17 hitters after allowing back-to-back singles in the third inning to Elliott Hebert and Kirsch.

In the ninth, Kirsch delivered the Pioneers’ only leadoff hit of the game and John Hoffpauir dumped a one-out single to center field. Romero flirted with ending the threat when he struck out pinch-hitter Gabe Doucet.

With a 1-and-1 count on Bergeron, Kirsch took off for third base and that was enough of a head start to score ahead of left fielder Cole Lipari’s throw to the plate.

“That was just be a good baseball player making a read and doing the right thing,” Notre Dame coach Chris Stevens said. “They weren’t holding him closely enough and Colin took it upon self to read the pitcher and take off.”

One of three key plays, coincidentally all from seniors who have made a habit of leading the way.

“The kid who led off was a senior and he’s been one of our leading hitters and has been clutch all year,” Stevens said. “Then (Hoffpauir) came through after he just missed on a couple of other swings. Garrett came up there and was confident because he got the winning hit for us in a game last week”

Added Bergeron, “My mentality was ‘I just can’t get out.’ I knew I had to go up there and fight my way on base somehow and give us a chance.”

The Panthers (26-10) had a bunch of chances early against Habetz but could never break through.

Catholic had a hit in each of the first five innings, including three leadoff singles, but was 0-for-9 after those hits. The Pioneers stranded nine runners, two each in the sixth and seventh frames.

“We hit the ball harder than they did but we hit it at them,” Jordan said. “It didn’t seem like we had a whole lot of guys left on, but when it’s a 1-0 game, every chance is a big one. If we could’ve just scratched out one run and put (Romero) out there in the bottom of the seventh, I like our chances.”

Even without all those squandered opportunities, the Panthers went step-for-step with the Pioneers until the fateful unplanned hit-and-run.

“That got our third baseman over toward the bag and got our shortstop moving to cover the bag,” Jordan said. “It threw us off just enough in that situation for that little ground ball to sneak through.”