The Falcons overcame a 1-0 deficit with two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning for a 2-1 victory.
The game, played at North Surry High School, was called two batters into the bottom of the fifth inning after severe storms began their rumble through Surry County. A softball game is considered complete once it reaches the bottom of the fifth.
It's the second time in three years that Forbush has beaten Starmount by a run in the MVAC tournament finale. The Falcons won all three meetings against the Rams by a single run in 2006.
"It doesn't matter if it's 2-1, 1-0 or 10-0, a win is a win is a win right now," Forbush coach Burl Love said. "It's the post-season and anyway we can scratch one out, we advance. That's all that matters at this point."
Thursday's contest had no bearing on playoff seedings regardless of who won. The Falcons will represent the MVAC as the No. 1 seed, while the Rams will be the No. 2 when the state playoffs start Tuesday.
But those in Starmount colors likely sensed a chance to earn a bragging rights victory over the Yadkin dynasty, which ran the tables in the conference this season but at times struggled to score bunches of runs. As has been a recent trend, the Falcons found a way to escape.
"They just got a couple of good hits on us and scored a couple of runs," said Starmount coach Heather Courts, who was voted the league's coach of the year. "It's just one of those things."
Neither team could get a hit in the first two innings. The only base-runner was Starmount's Jessica White, who was hit by a Lauren Harris pitch in the second inning.
Ram freshman Nichole Hutchens got the first hit of the game with one out in the top of the third. But Harris -- who collected her third MVAC player of the year award after the game -- got the next two Starmount batters to fly out.
Taylor Hutchens had a no-hitter going for the Rams through three innings, with the Falcons only getting one aboard because of an error.
Jana Matthews singled for Starmount to start the fourth, and that set up the Rams' only run. Ashlee Handy bunted Matthews over, and White hit a smash to centerfield to score her teammate.
As storm clouds began to strengthen behind the Forbush dugout, the Falcons' two biggest hitters stepped to the plate and created their own storms.
Senior Brita Stanley ended Taylor Hutchens' no-hit bid with a one-out double in the bottom of the fourth. With first base open, the Rams chose to pitch to Harris, whose bat can be as potent as her high-speed pitches.
Harris drilled a ball to the left-field fence to score Stanley and get herself to second base. That tied things at 1-1.
Courts said she never really considered pitching around Harris, who was 3-for-3 Wednesday night against Surry Central.
"We were just going for it," she said. "It's the conference tournament. Our (playoff) places are set. So we just wanted to go for it and see what happened.
"We lost on the gamble."
Hutchens struck out Taylor Smith, but then Leslie Long came up with maybe her biggest hit of the season to score Harris' pinch runner, Maygan Baldwin. That put the Falcons up 2-1.
"At times, Leslie has struggled. She got off to a real, real slow start and has been splitting time with Haley Pardue," Love said. "But you get big hits like that, and you're going to earn your spot in the lineup."
Nichole Hutchens walked with one out in the top of the fifth to keep Starmount alive. Carla Cave moved her into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt.
Chelsea Varner then got aboard after getting hit by a pitch, but Harris ended the threat by getting Matthews to ground out.
Taylor Hutchens got Forbush's first batter out in the bottom of the fifth, and had a 2-0 count against Jessica Dzeskewicz when umpires halted play because of heavy rain. After about 30 minutes, with tornado watches and severe storm warnings all around, the game was called.
Had the rain come 10 minutes earlier, the game might not have progressed enough to become official.
Each team finished with three hits. Harris struck out three, walked one and hit two. Taylor Hutchens did not have a walk and fanned one.
"I think maybe I left Taylor in too long," Courts said. "Maybe they were used to her by (the fourth inning). She did a good job for three innings. With a team like Forbush, I think I should have pulled her after they got through the batting order one time. That was my fault."
Starmount advanced to the MVAC final with a 3-2 win over Ashe County on Wednesday night. Matthews earned the victory, striking out 13.
"That's the first complete game for her all year," Courts said. "She was a little shook there in the first inning because she' been hit a couple of times lately. But then after that, she settled down and took care of business. Then we put the bats on the ball."
Starmount scored two runs in the third inning and the game-winner in the sixth. Ashe recorded single runs in the top of the first and top of the sixth.
Brittany White had a triple for the Rams. She finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Handy had a hit, a run and an RBI.
Starmount's Nichole Hutchens, Brittany White and Matthews made the all-tournament team, along with Surry Central's Stephanie Doby and Forbush's Stanley, Long, Ciera Cockerham, Taylor Smith and Harris, who was named the tournament MVP.
State playoff brackets will be released over the weekend. Starmount and Forbush both will be at home for Tuesday's openers. Game times are likely to be at 6 p.m. but have not been officially set yet.
Forbush 2, Starmount 1
MVAC Tournament Championship
Thursday * at Toast
Starmount 000 10 -- 1 3 1
Forbush 000 2x -- 2 3 0
Note: Game called in the bottom of the fifth inning due to storms.
WP: Lauren Harris; LP: Taylor Hutchens; 2B -- Brita Stanley and Lauren Harris (F); Leading hitters -- Lauren Harris (F) 1-for-2, RBI; Leslie Long (F) 1-for-2, RBI; Brita Stanley 1-for-2; Jessica White (S) 1-for-2, RBI.
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