HARLEM - Thomson celebrated like never before on Harlem's softball field Tuesday night. A water cooler shower followed the postgame dog pile and dozens of hugs.

The visiting Lady Bulldogs had good reason for the one-of-a-kind celebration. The 6-4 victory might have been their first ever against Harlem.

"I don't think it's ever happened," Thomson softball coach Jason Osborn said. "That's what I've been told. It's only my third year, but I've been told it's never happened."

First-year Harlem coach Mike Leverett confirmed the fact. He said Thomson's victory over Harlem was the first of its kind.

They earned it.

"They battled and battled and battled," Leverett said. "Today they deserved to win because they battled a lot harder than we did."

Down 3-2 in the seventh inning, Thomson responded with three doubles in its first five at bats of the inning.

Hannah Pereda's double to left-center field in the top of the seventh inning gave Thomson a 4-3 lead.

Amber Overton found the same spot with another RBI double one batter later, and Harlem gave up the final run on an error.

The home team rallied for one run in the bottom of the seventh, but Overton forced Kacee Camp to reach for an outside pitch and fly out to end the game.

Both teams scraped together runs one at a time through the first six innings. Harlem's Kristin Pitchford drove in the home team's first two runs of the game on a pair of RBI bloop singles in the first and third innings.

Thomson's first run came in the third on an RBI double from pitcher Overton. Harlem scored again in the fifth, and Thomson put up a run in the sixth to send both teams into the final inning with Harlem leading 3-2.

Those first six innings lasted less than an hour.

"The biggest thing was we sped the game up too quick," Osborn said. "I told them to slow the game down and let the game come back to you.

"I thought that was a big key for us. It's tough with high school kids because you can't tell if they know what you mean, but they did a good job of picking out their pitches and slowing the game down."