DANVILLE -- Thanks to a trio of lengthy lightning delays, Thursday night's 9-10 Softball District 13 title game was broken into three very distinct parts.

Danville, with its tournament life on the line, won the first part as it solved the riddle of Milton's Danielle Lincoln to build a two-run lead after four innings. Milton won the second part when Danville's Addie Burkland couldn't quite get loose after a long delay, allowing Milton to take a two-run lead of its own, just three outs from the D13 crown.

But after the second long delay, Danville managed to win the third -- and most important part of the game -- scoring three times in the bottom of the sixth inning to rally for a thrilling 10-9 victory at Washies Little League Complex to force a decisive game for the title tonight.

The two teams will meet back at Washies as the 5:30 game of a Danville doubleheader. Montour County's 9-10 Baseball All-Stars will face Area I champion Snyder County at 7:30 in the District 13 championship series.

Danville softball all-stars hope to rally for a championship of their own, and will need another gutsy performance like Thursday's to do it.

Kasey Getkin singled home the tying run in the bottom of the sixth and Zina Knight, who was lifted for a substitute earlier in the game, fouled off four two-strike pitches before lining a shot into right to plate Getkin with the game-winner.

"This is what we wanted: Our No. 1 against their No. 1," said Danville manager Nick Mottern. "It was such a long game and the momentum kept going back and forth. I'm just glad we were able to pull it out.

With Burkland and Lincoln inside the circle, conventional wisdom was that the game would be a pitcher's duel. In three starts, Burkland had thrown two no-hitters and combined with three others pitchers on a third while Lincoln baffled the orange and purple stars in the teams' first meeting with her quirky delivery, striking out 10 in a two-hit victory.

This time both pitchers ran into some trouble early. Burkland was able to work her way out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the first unscathed before Danville got two in the first to take an early lead.

"Everybody thought it was going to be a battle of pitchers, but the bats proved to be the difference," said Mottern, whose team had 12 more hits against Lincoln this time. "We took a lot of batting practice since the last time we played and it paid off."

It certainly paid off in the last inning, broken up as it was.

Milton took a 9-7 lead into the bottom of the sixth after scoring three times in the top of the sixth on just one hit. Danville's Lindsey Strausser led off the sixth with a double into the gap and came all the way around to score on a throwing error in the outfield, making it 9-8.

Needing three outs to advance to Sectionals, Milton seemed to settle down when Lincoln threw a pair of fastballs right by Hallie Yacko to go up 0-2 before a flash of lightning delayed the game for another 45 minutes.

"After the first delay, I wanted the girls to sit and relax and not use up too much energy," said Mottern. "In the second delay, they were yelling because they were hungry, so I told them to cheer. We didn't lose the momentum and emotion like we did in the first one."

On the first pitch after the delay, Yacko dropped a blooper just inside the right field line and she raced around to third for a triple. On the next pitch, Getkin bounced a grounder between third and short to plate Yacko with the equalizer. Two pitches later, Getkin took off for second and went all the way to third when the catcher's throw sailed into the outfield, putting the winning run just 60 feet from home.