WATCH: Jackson Monica’s walk-off HR sends St. Charles Catholic to D3 Select Semifinal

LAPLACE, La. (WGNO) — It was, as Wayne Stein said, a storybook ending.

No. 1 seed St. Charles Catholic beat University Lab (UHS) in Game 3, 8-5, thanks to Brayden Bertucci’s two-run single to tie the game and Jackson Monica’s walk-off homerun to win it in the bottom of the seventh at Comet Field.

Sunday’s win gives the defending champions a trip to the Division III Select Semifinal in Sulphur, where the Comets will face No. 4 Dunham on Wednesday at McMurray Park at 11 a.m.

In the top of the sixth when the game was tied at 2, UHS’s three-hole Cole Connor smashed a 3-run homer over the left field wall to make it 5-2, which would be the score at the start of the bottom of the seventh.

INSIDE THE DUGOUT

HEAD COACH WAYNE STEIN: “Hudson drew a walk, and then when Bertucci got up, he’s one of our best hitters, one of the best players to ever play here, and we said we’re gonna let him roll. We actually we gave him green light. And then the swing that Jackson puts on it to win it is just unbelievable, it’s a storybook ending.”

JACKSON MONICA: “I knew it was gonna come down to me or the dude in front of me and after [Brayden] did his thing, I knew i had something to prove up there. I tried to be big all series, and that’s really all did. I knew I was getting fastball there because he hadn’t thrown me one the whole at bat, so i just sat back and let it to it’s thing.”