Seconds later, the ball was popped into the glove of junior catcher Cordia Hirschy, and the celebration was on. Osbourn Park blanked Battlefield, 3-0, to take home the hardware at Deep Run High in Glen Allen. The win secured the program’s first title since 2016.

“That ball went up in the air, and [it was] just pure joy I could see from everywhere on the field,” DeRosa said. “The girls just deserved it.”

Nearly a year ago to the day, the players from Osbourn Park (20-7) huddled together after a semifinal loss to Madison and vowed they would win it all the following season. A team loaded with underclassmen, the Yellow Jackets knew they would be returning all but one player from their lineup. With the taste of defeat in their mouths, they set an early goal to hoist a state title trophy.

To get over that hump, the Yellow Jackets needed to take down a Bobcats team that had beaten them four times this season, most recently in a region final May 31.

“The girls were a little worried going into today like, ‘Oh, we lost to this team four times,’ and we just kept telling them, ‘Look, one bounce in [any] of those games and it could’ve ended up differently,’ ” DeRosa said. “We just kept pumping that information to them, trying to get them in the right mental state to realize you deserve to be here [and] you can beat this team.”

The fifth meeting was just as competitive as the first four. Osbourn Park’s Samantha Borrayo and Battlefield’s Aiko Conaway engaged in a pitchers’ duel that left the game scoreless through four innings. The Yellow Jackets struck first in the top of the fifth when sophomore Gauri Saigal singled in a run to give her team a lead.

Seniors Amari Frederick and Sade Brooks-Robinson each roped a base hit in the sixth inning as Osbourn Park extended its lead to three. Borrayo, who dealt with arm soreness early Saturday, held strong in the closing innings to keep the Bobcats at bay.

“She smelled the finish line and was like, ‘All right, I’m kicking it into my next gear,’ ” DeRosa said.

While the Bobcats put the ball in play in all but one of their last seven at-bats, the Yellow Jackets had an error-free game to secure their state championship. Borrayo allowed just three hits, closing her high school career in impressive fashion.