Southeast of Saline is one victory away from making school softball history.

Kyiah Samuelson drove in Reese Heinrich with the deciding run in the bottom of the fifth inning and Karlee Zurfluh pitched a complete-game five-hitter Wednesday as the to-seeded Trojans got past No. 5 Jefferson County West, 2-1, in a Class 3A state semifinal at Arrocha Ballpark in Lawrence.

Sophomore Kyiah Samuelson

With the victory, Southeast improved to 26-1 and advanced to Friday’s 1:30 p.m. championship game against No. 3 Silver Lake (27-4). Silver Lake, which beat No. 2 Haven, 12-6, in the second semifinal, was state runner-up the past two years.

It will be just the second championship game appearance for Southeast, which is seeking its first-ever state title. The Trojans fell to St. Marys, 5-0, in the 2003 final.

“I say this with the utmost respect, but I think we’re confidently naïve,” Southeast coach Tyler Smith said of his team’s mindset heading into the final. “This is brand new to all of us.”

Head coach Tyler Smith

The Trojans had to come from behind to edge Jefferson West, which knocked off two-time defending champion Frontenac in the quarterfinals. The Tigers broke a scoreless tie in the top of the first inning on a sacrifice bunt by Taryn Taylor.

Southeast answered in the bottom of the inning with a Samuelson double and Annebelle Soell RBI single.

The Trojans broke the tie with a two-out rally in the fifth inning as Heinrich walked, stole second and scored on Samuel’s ground ball single to second. Samuelson had three of Southeast’s five hits with an RBI and one run scored.

“To be honest, I don’t think we ever panicked,” Smith said. “With our record of only one loss you would assume that we’ve blown everybody out, but we had a lot of games like this.”

Samuelson also made a game-saving defensive play in the top of the seventh to preserve the Trojan lead when she threw out Jeff West pinch runner Jackson at the plate from center field for the second out. Jackson had replaced Reese Stowe, who was hit by a pitch and took second on a passed ball, and tried to score on Emmie Dean’s single to center.

Zurfluh then got Joslynn Sutton on a pop fly to shortstop Heinrich to end the game.

“Somebody always steps up,” Smith said.

Samuelson’s outfield assist was the second Jeff West runner erased at the plate. In the top of the third, with one run in, the Tigers’ Sutton was caught trying to steal home on a wild pitch that bounced back to catcher Riley Donnelly.

Zurfluh, who improved to 18-0 with her fourth postseason victory, allowed one earned run on five hits with six strikeouts and five walks for Southeast. Jeff West’s Addison Schwinn gave up two earned runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and three walks.

Jefferson West (22-7) will take on Haven in the third-place game at 3 p.m. Thursday.