The ice water that soaked coach Jennifer Ray's shirt after the game must have been as cold as the ice water that ran through pitcher Missy McCullough's veins in the bottom of the seventh inning.

With the Class 1A championship on the line Saturday at the Auburndale Softball Complex, the Mount Dora Bible senior faced a bases-loaded situation with two outs and the Bulldogs ahead 1-0.

At the plate stepped Ocoee Central Florida Christian second baseman Lindsey Couzins.

Ball one. Ball two.

"I'm all right, I'm all right,'' the senior co-captain convincingly shouted toward the dugout as she waved her right hand and then stepped to the back of the mound to dry off her hands with some of the infield dirt.

Ray bounced from one side of the dugout to the other. Her seat atop the Igloo cooler just wouldn't do. The only player remaining on the bench was Leah Monkman -and she was standing on top of it. Monica Hernandes, Lauren Van Fleet and Kristin Jones clenched the fence at the front of the dugout.

Ball three.

Finally, strike one crossed the outside corner of the plate. Strike two hit the same spot. Couzins fouled off the next pitch down the third base line, a good five or so feet out of the reach of Lauren Boyd.

McCullough hurled the ball to the plate one more time and Couzins connected, but with a weak dribbler back up the middle.

McCullough scooped it up and lightly tossed to first baseman Brandi Dawkins. Almost before the ball reached Dawkins, McCullough flung her glove about 20 feet in the air. And when Dawkins held on to the ball the rest of the Bulldogs flooded the mound to celebrate the 1-0 win.

"That was scary,'' McCullough said. "My legs were shaking, and I just threw it up there -four fastballs in a row. Then I just wanted to glove it right, and I was thinking 'Home or first, home or first?' And I just threw my glove up -I didn't even see Brandi catch the ball.''

Mount Dora Bible (24-9) did what no other team was able to do this year: hand Central Florida a loss. The Knights finished the season at 26-1, and their last loss came in the championship game last year against Seminole Presbyterian.

And few of the Bulldogs could express their true emotions.

"I can't even explain it in words,'' said junior shortstop Lacey Carter, Mount Dora Bible's other co-captain. "It's great. We've worked so hard for this. We just had to play a great game and we did. I thought I was gonna hyperventilate. My heart was pounding.''

The pressure built as the innings flew by without either team posting much of an offensive threat. Central Florida's Leah Barth (24-1) matched McCullough's effort and limited the Bulldogs to only one hit over the first five innings.

A rally was bound to happen, though. And Mount Dora Bible put one together in the sixth inning.

Kami Carter drew a one-out walk and Rebecca Reed then hit into a fielder's choice. Lacey Carter followed with a single to center, sending Reed to third. McCullough drew a walk on four straight pitches to load the bases for catcher Christen Sherwood.

Behind in the count 1-2, Sherwood smacked a single to center to score Reed.

"The bases were loaded and we had to score,'' Sherwood said. "So I knew I had to hit it. I was nervous but I knew we could do it. I was just trying to make contact. I hit it right out into center field and I saw Becca tagging home.'

On scoring the winning run, "It feels good, obviously,'' Reed said with a smile. "I came across the plate after she hit it, and I didn't know if I scored until I got into the dugout.''

Even though they were being shut down, plenty of the Bulldogs still had faith in the offense.

"I knew we always have one inning where our big hitters go up and generate runs,'' Lacey Carter said.

The momentum for the offense in the sixth inning quite possibly carried over from the defensive effort in the fourth inning.

Catcher Kristen Butler singled up the middle to open the fourth. Barth then grounded to third and was thrown out easily. Dawkins' throw to second skipped into left field as Butler rounded second and made her way for third. When the ball got into the outfield she headed for home.

The throw from Kami Carter was dead on, and Butler had nowhere to go. She started to head back to third, but then tried to get around Sherwood. Butler was out by a good five feet for the double play.

"That gave us a lot of momentum,'' Lacey Carter said. "They should have known not to go on her.''

Apparently, nobody told the Eagles about Carter's cannon.

"The other team wanted to score so bad,'' Sherwood said. "She was out by a mile. I saw that girl's face, and she was just like, 'How in the world did you get the ball?' And I just tagged her. They wanted to score so bad.''

Central Florida coach Rick Martin said it was a play that, in that situation, he probably would have done exactly the same.

"That was a call we can look back at now and second guess it, but what if the girl had thrown it wild, then she would have scored and given us the lead,'' he said. "It was something you have to do and take a chance. The girl made a good play and a good throw.''

Tedi Carney then singled to center, but was thrown out by Sherwood as she tried to steal second.

McCullough retired the next six batters before the rally in the seventh, and McCullough's gutsy performance.

The team accepted its medals and state championship trophy before being surrounded by friends and family. It was then that the Bulldogs dumped the bucket of ice water on Ray.

And no matter how cold that water could have been, Ray probably would have had the same thing to say.

"This is beautiful,'' she said.