Thursday night was finally Melanie Hazelwood’s turn.

In the bottom of the third in the Capital District finals, she relieved starter Kelsie Hudson with one on, one out and a lot of pride on the line against Hanover.

“I was so ready to come into that game,” she said. “I mean, I was just on the bench waiting and I was warm. . . . Words can’t describe how ready I was. I wanted it.”

Smiling between pitches, showing off her signature fastball, Hazelwood ended the inning with a flyout and a strikeout. She finished the game with a 4-3 win as Lee-Davis defeated Hanover for the district tournament title.

“Pitching is just a part of me,” Hazelwood said. “I’ve always loved it and I think everyone finds what they love to do. And that’s just my thing.”

Catcher Chelsea Mitchell, who defers to teammates named Chelsi and Kelsie by asking to be called Cheese, has played with Hazelwood for years. Sometimes Hazelwood hasn’t had the support she has needed to close out a good game, she said, but last night everything was finally right.

“I had confidence in her. I think she’s been down a lot and not given a chance to . . . take charge,” Mitchell said. “And I think she did that tonight. I had confidence in her coming in to that game. I didn’t doubt her for a second.”

After Hanover took a 2-1 lead in the first inning, Mitchell hit a two-run double to deep left field to give the Confederates the lead.

Hanover catcher and district player of the year Courtney Long, who had led off the bottom of the first with a home run over the left-field wall, then came back up in the second inning to knock in the tying run.

Lee-Davis senior third baseman Jana Martin singled in Jamie Bodman in the fifth inning for the winning run.

“I was so nervous,” Martin said. “The past couple of days I did something to my hands. . . . It hurts to touch anything, to throw.”

The single toward short was a blur afterward, she said. “I don’t even remember that pitch. I don’t remember anything. I just knew I had two strikes and I had to get it in play.”

Hanover, the defending Central Region champion, ended a 10-game winning streak with a 10-inning loss at Lee-Davis earlier this season. Yesterday’s loss ended a seven-game streak. “You don’t want to stick a big fat L in the middle of a run,” coach Chris Pace said. “We’re thinking region three-peat, and this is a big hiccup. No two ways about it. The good news is we’re not done.”

As the winner of the regular-season title, Hanover is the top seed out of the Capital District and hosts Cosby in the first round of the Central Region tournament, Tuesday at 6 p.m. Lee-Davis advances as the No. 2 seed and will play at Midlothian at 4:30 p.m. The winners advance to L.C. Bird High School on Thursday.

Lee-Davis————————————- 120 010 0—4 9 2
Hanover————————————- 210 000 0—3 7 3
Hudson, Hazelwood (3) and Mitchell; Puryear and Long. W: Hazelwood. L: Puryear.
Records: Lee-Davis 17-3; Hanover 16-4