PLANT CITY, Fla. — Second-ranked Chattanooga State still has a chance for its first junior college softball national championship today, but the Lady Tigers came very close to earning a spot in the title game.

Wallace State of Hanceville, Ala., scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning with the help of a disputed call to beat Chattanooga State 4-3. The Lady Lions (68-8) have to lose twice this afternoon to be the runners-up.

Chattanooga State (59-8) beat Iowa Western 4-2 Friday afternoon before losing in the winners-bracket final. Top-seeded Santa Fe of Gainesville, Fla. — upset by 16th seed Spartanburg Methodist in the first round — has battled through the losers bracket and faces San Jacinto for the spot against the Lady Tigers in the losers’ final.

Meagan Masingale was 3-for-4 with two RBIs, Britni Pearce was 2-for-2 and Megann Sallinger homered for Chattanooga State against the Reivers, who got four hits off Courtney Alvarez. Jenna Dell was 2-for-2 with a two-run homer in defeat.

Krista Goodlet was 2-for-3 with a two-run double that put Chattanooga State ahead 3-1 in the sixth inning against Wallace State. Also in that game, Kaiti Kelley was 2-for-4, Pearce was 2-for-3 and scored a run and Casey Saunders had an RBI single. Meagan Qualls walked and scored and also singled for the Lady Tigers, who got an eight-hitter from pitcher Brittany Fox.

Fox allowed a leadoff single in the seventh, but that runner was tagged by Saunders on a grounder. The Lady Tigers thought they got an out at first on the No. 9 batter, when Qualls fielded her swinging bunt, but she was called safe and leadoff batter Hannah Strength brought in both runners for the win with a double to right-center.

“Actually, we thought we had five missed calls at first against us,” coach Beth Keylon-Randolph said. “That’s stuff you can’t control. Now we have to forgot about that and try to win three games tomorrow.”