Bullard's Anistyn Foster delivers a pitch against Melissa Thursday in Forney.

FORNEY — Anistyn Foster tossed a two-hit shutout and Hadi Fults hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning to lift the Bullard Lady Panthers to a 5-0 win over Melissa in Game 2 of a Class 4A Region II final series Thursday night at the Rabbit Hole.

“They did exactly what I asked them to do,” Bullard head softball coach Julie Murry said. “I said all I want you to worry about is play so we can play Saturday, and that’s exactly what we did. Now, we’re going to play to win on Saturday.”

The decisive Game 3 is at 6:30 p.m. Saturday with the winner advancing to the UIL State Softball Tournament in Austin.

Melissa took Game 1 on Wednesday, 5-4, but sophomore Anistyn Foster and the Lady Panthers made sure the season would not come to an end on Thursdya. Foster allowed just two baserunners in the first five innings — walks to Kindred Johnson in the second and Paisley Needham in the fifth.

Foster took a no-hitter into the sixth until Makenna Ramsey and Emily Johnson hit one-out singles. Foster got Rachel Wells to fly out to center and then struck out Caigan Crabtree to end the threat.

With one out in the seventh, Foster hit Johnson and then walked Needham. But she got Natalee Smith to pop out to second and then struck out Autumn Bell to end the game.

Foster allowed two hits with three walks and struck out six batters.

“I think just being humble and hungry has been the key thing for us,” Foster said. “I think just trying to stay focused and know what we want and just attacking what we’ve been training for. And I knew my defense had my back, and everybody was cheering us on, and I think that really helped us. And then Hadi busted it open.”

Bullard led off the bottom of the first with consecutive singles by Berlyn Grossman and Kaylee Paul, but Alex Starr came back with three straight strikeouts, including punching out Fults on three straight pitches to end the inning.

Paul singled again in the third, but Starr came back with her sixth strikeout to keep the shutout intact.

Addison Hooker led off the bottom of the fourth with a single, and then Fults knocked a two-run shot over the fence to give Bullard a 2-0 lead.

“My teammate Addison Hooker got a great base hit, and I knew I had to knock her in somehow, someway, and I knew that Addison was a spark, and we just had to keep it going. I knew my adjustments that had to be made. Murry coached me in the dugout. And honestly, I just wanted to hit that ball.”

Callie Bailey led off the bottom of the sixth with a double, and Fults knocked her in with an RBI single with one out. Bullard added another run when Kenzie King reached on a two-out error to bring in Saelyr Hunt, and Kylie Pate, who singled and had a diving catch in the first inning, scored on a wild pitch to make the score 5-0.

“We knew today was do or die,” Fults said. “We knew we had to come out and show some energy. Our fans showed energy, and we knew we had to get it done.”

Fults and Paul led Bullard (39-3) with two hits each.

“I think it was a great job of us offensively just trusting the process, staying with our plan and chipping away,” Murry said. “And Anistyn, she competed very well for us in the circle. I couldn’t be more proud of how she went out there and took charge.”

Starr allowed five runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts for Melissa (29-6).