With two outs in the seventh inning of a tie ballgame, all Britlynn Hubbard needed was a base hit.

She got it.

Hubbard’s walk-off single scored Riley Dorius and lifted Malad to a 13-12 win and the 2A state championship Saturday at Washington State University. It is the Dragons’ second softball state title in four years and fifth since 2005.

Hubbard’s heroics capped a three-win day for Malad (25-2), which weathered subpar field conditions and a shortened tournament format to win the state championship. The Dragons opened the day by beating Orofino 15-0 in four innings, knocked off West Jefferson 12-5 in the state semis and battled McCall-Donnelly in a marathon title match.

“This is a pretty special group,” Malad coach Bob Hannah said. “These kids have played well together. They really have done a good job. These kids are just tight.”

Dorius pitched every inning Saturday for Malad, starting with a perfect game against Orofino. It was Malad’s second consecutive 15-0 shutout after beating Soda Springs by the same score in the 2A District 5 championship game.

“Our girls, they brought the momentum coming from districts right to that first game,” Hannah said. “They hit Orofino with everything they had.”

Next up was West Jefferson. Hannah said a big first inning offensively and key defensive stops helped Malad hold off West Jefferson’s rallies.

“We had key defensive plays to snuff out their opportunities,” said Hannah, who highlighted the play of second baseman Halli Hannah in the win.

Finally, in the state title game, Malad simply had one more rally in it than McCall-Donnelly had.

McCall led 4-0 and 7-1 before Malad plated seven runs in the fifth to snag an 8-7 lead. McCall answered with four runs in the sixth to go ahead 11-8.

Malad retook the lead, 12-11, in the home half of the sixth. Sure enough, McCall answered right back, tying the game in the top of the seventh.

Hubbard ended it there with the season-ending, state-winning single.

“The championship game was seriously just who wanted it more,” coach Hannah said.

With the shortened tournament format switching the bracket from double-elimination to single-elimination, Malad couldn’t afford a bad outing.

They hardly had one all year. The Dragons ended the season on a 13-game winning streak, scoring at least 10 runs each time.

“They knew because of the tournament change that you had to win that first game to have a chance,” coach Hannah said. “I think that extra challenge really helped their focus for the day.”