Naylor went from almost run-ruling Clearwater in the sixth inning to a somewhat nervous seventh.
With two outs and nobody on base, Clearwater found a way to score six runs in the top of the seventh inning, but Naylor eventually found that final out and won 10-6 in the Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament semifinals on Tuesday at Rains Field at Three Rivers College.
The No. 2 Eagles will play No. 4 East Carter in the championship at 5:30 p.m. today at Rains Field.
"My team never quits. That's what I told them after the game, 'I'm really proud of you guys,'" Clearwater coach Shannon England said. "Our approach was the same the whole game. I was on them, we have to swing harder, we have to stay back."
Naylor (5-2) scored in five of six innings, employing lots of small ball along the way.
With a 3-1 lead in the third inning, the Eagles laid down a string of successful bunts, both for singles and sacrifices.
"We did not defend the bunt real well that one inning, which ended up pushing two, three extra runs across, which turned out to be big in the seventh inning. In the conference, we see a lot of the small ball type teams, but in the spring teams we don't see that all that much," England said.
McKenzie Crofford, Alyssa Urich and Maddy Cagle all scored.
Naylor added two runs in the fifth and sixth innings and had the walk-off run on third with two outs, but Clearwater pitcher Rachel Rowold caught a popup to make sure the game went the full seven innings.
"We needed to get one more bunt down, but we are learning how to win ball games. We had a rough fall, but we are learning this spring. We are a young ball club, we are back in the championship and we'll see how it goes tomorrow," Naylor coach Gene Deckard said.
Naylor got two quick outs to start the seventh, and then got into trouble.
Facing the heart of the batting order, Urich repeatedly got behind in counts and allowed six straight batters to reach base.
"We don't have a junior or senior on the infield, all freshmen and sophomores. Give them credit, they hit the ball. We got behind in the counts and had to give a little better pitches than we wanted to," Deckard said. "Alyssa pitched really well the whole game, hit her spots, changed speeds, whether it was nerves or whatever, she got behind in the last inning and had to put it over the plate, and give them credit, they hit it."
Amy Holmes and Emilee Chitwood doubled during the burst and with each run the Tiger dugout got a little bit louder.
Still, Urich had a runner on second and a four-run lead. The potential tying run was still in the dugout, waiting to walk into the on-deck circle.
Urich then got a comebacker and threw to first for the win.
Holmes scored twice for Clearwater (10-6) and was 1 for 3 with a double and a walk.
Callee Pickrell scored three times for Naylor and was 2 for 3 with a walk and a triple. Pruett scored twice.