Warren Central doesn’t seem capable of closing out a playoff series without injecting some drama into the finish. That’s just how they roll.

And as long as it keeps winding up in a positive outcome for them, they might just roll all the way to a state championship.

The Lady Vikes fended off a furious comeback bid by Harrison Central to win Game 3 of their third-round playoff series, 7-6 Saturday at Lucy Young Field, and advance to the MHSAA Class III slow-pitch softball semifinals.

They’ll face either North Pike or Wayne County on Tuesday. The site and time of the series was to be determined Sunday. It’s the deepest postseason run for Warren Central (18-8) since it won the North State championship in 2000, before the current playoff format was adopted.

“It’s awesome for them. To see their excitement is great,” Warren Central coach Dana McGivney said as she gestured toward her players. “I expected them to play well. I didn’t know if we’d make it this far. But I definitely expected them to play well. We’ve got a lot of upper classmen so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t.”

In the first two rounds, Warren Central nearly wasted an eight-run lead and scored a walk-off run in its series-clinching victories. It did a little of both in the third round.

Warren Central won Game 1 of Saturday’s best-of-three series 13-7 — thanks to an eight-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning — before dropping Game 2 by a score of 11-8.

Game 3 was all Warren Central for most of the way. Kelsey Lockridge and Dee Dee Caldwell both homered, and April Lynn drove in two runs with a pair of sacrifice flies as the Lady Vikes jumped out to a 7-0 lead after four innings.

Their bats went cold after that, however, and Harrison Central finally got its offense rolling. The Red Rebels got one run back in the top of the fifth and three more in the sixth, then loaded the bases with one out in the seventh.

Kayla Cade ripped a double down the left field line to plate two runs and pull Harrison Central within one, 7-6.

“It was a little bit tense. But in this game especially, you have to expect people are going to come back and score. If you don’t continually score runs you put the pressure on yourself and that’s what we did. We’re making it harder than it should be,” McGivney said.

With the season hanging in the balance, the Lady Vikes finally slammed the door. With the tying run on third, Caldwell caught a fly ball in center field and quickly fired it back to the infield to prevent a tag up.

Harrison Central’s Kayla Smith then hit a sharp grounder to Cocoa Fultz at shortstop. Fultz had made an error on a similar play to key the three-run rally by Harrison Central in the sixth inning, but came up with this one clean and made a sure, strong throw to first for the final out.

As the Lady Vikes sprinted off the field, the look on their faces was as much relief as joy.

“It had me stressed out for a minute, but it was a really good game. They hit with us and we hit back,” said Lynn, who homered in Game 2 and had six RBIs in the series. “We’ve never been this far, so it’s really fun for us. Especially us seniors. It’s exhilarating. It’s amazing. I wouldn’t want to be with anybody else. It is a lot of fun.”