THETFORD — It took more than four hours, but the top-seeded Thetford Academy baseball team finally shook off upstart Windsor in Saturday’s VPA Division III quarterfinal game.

A walk-off RBI single by Jackson Kingsbury in the bottom of the seventh inning propelled the Panthers to a 9-8 victory over the eighth-seeded Yellowjackets.

TA will host Hazen in Tuesday’s semifinals.

Windsor (5-9) put itself in good position by scoring twice in the second inning prior to a rain delay that lasted 1 hour, 26 minutes. Owen Rhoad and Johnny Clark both drew walks from Thetford starting pitcher Ethan Marshia before Jordan Place drove them in with a two-out double. Place later tried to steal third base, but was thrown out by Thetford catcher Ryan Malloy, who also threw him out at second following a walk to lead off the game.

Saturday’s rain shower was brief, but school officials needed to wait 30 minutes after audible thunder before play could resume with the bottom of the second inning.

Thetford (12-3) came back from the break and chipped away at the stone, scoring a single run in the third, fourth and fifth innings. The hosts took the lead after a Windsor fielding error allowed Mack Briglin to score on Malloy’s ground ball.

The Panthers tacked on five runs in the sixth. They seemed like insurance at the time, but each one proved to be essential. The rally, which Kingsbury kicked off with two outs, created a long defensive frame for the Jacks, who pitched Clark for the game’s first 3⅔ innings before Ethan Belvin came on in relief.

Windsor responded with a six-run seventh, highlighted by Belvin’s two-run homer over the left-field fence. The Panthers, who had lifted relief pitcher Briglin after the sixth inning in favor of Jacob Gilman, gave the ball back to Briglin in the seventh to dampen the visitors’ comeback bid. The junior made a tremendous play on a comebacker that led to the run-down of a Windsor baserunner between third and home.

Marshia, who dealt a no-hitter last month for the Panthers, started off the home half of the seventh with a single, which set up Kingsbury’s heroics.

Notes: Saturday’s matchup between Upper Valley rivals was the first of 2021 after a regular-season game was snowed out. … Windsor’s seniors — Place, Rhoad, Ethan Lawyer, Gage Dillingham and Cooper Bevis — graduated from high school on Friday. Commencement was followed by a class trip to Jay Peak. … Adam Dufour pitched the final inning and a third for Windsor. … Place made the defensive play of the day by drifting back from shortstop into the outfield and snagging a tough pop-up to end the sixth inning. … Marshia struck out seven batters and walked eight. … TA’s first three batters — Marshia, Kingsbury and Briglin — each had two hits. … Both teams were bounced from the 2019 postseason by eventual D-III champion, White River Valley, which has since switched to D-IV.