Trampe scattered five hits and struck out eight as the Knights beat the Columbia Eagles 3-1 Wednesday in the Class 2A Metro East Lutheran Softball Regional.
The Eagles had the leadoff hitter reach base in four different innings, but they managed only one run against Trampe.
"Amanda is a battler," Knights coach Rob Stock said. "She wanted this game today. She has been looking forward to her first regional game for a long time now. She stepped up. She was on the money all game long, hitting her spots and making the pitches she needs to make.
"We knew we had something special when she came here, and she backed it up today with that performance on the mound."
Trampe was able to pitch with the lead nearly the entire game as the Knights jumped out to a 1-0 advantage in the second inning.
"I was really nervous," Trampe said. "Getting that first run helped a lot actually. It kind of calms the nerves down."
The Knights (20-12) advance to the regional title game for the first time in school history.
"To get a win against a great opponent like Columbia in the semifinals of the regional is just great," said Stock, whose team will play Piasa Southwestern (18-4) at 4 p.m. Saturday. "We just found a way to put enough hits together and make enough plays to come out with a victory. It's very exciting for this group, and we hope this sets us on a roll for a while."
The fifth-seeded Knights lost 6-5 to the Piasa Birds in their only regular-season meeting.
The fourth-seeded Eagles end their season at 17-9.
"We knew it was going to be a tight game," Eagles coach Matt Duguay said. "It's a four and a five seed. They were the five seed by only a couple of points. Most coaches knew we were pretty evenly matched. I don't know if it was so much of an upset on their home field."
The Eagles stranded five runners in the game. They led off three innings with doubles, but only one of those runners came around to score.
"We couldn't come up with the hit when we needed it," Duguay said. "It's a credit to them. They made some really good plays on some hard-hit balls, and their pitcher threw a heck of a game. It's a tough way to end the year, but give credit to them. They made the plays when they needed to make the plays."
Metro East Lutheran senior center fielder Kaitlyn Knollman made the defensive play of the game in the bottom of the seventh.
Knollman dove over sliding left fielder Alex Bauer and then caught a drive into the left-center field gap by Heather Lindsay for the final out of the game. The Eagles had the top of their batting order coming up after Lindsay.
"We've seen her make some great catches before, but that one may top them all as the best one of her four-year career," Stock said of Kmollman's web gem. "Her and Alex have worked well together out in left and center this year. For her to go after that and find a way to make a catch was huge for us. If that ball drops, you never know what happens down the road in that inning."
The Knights scored their first run off Columbia starting pitcher Brooke Carroll. Trampe came around from first base on a single by Becca Hausman as the right fielder threw wildly to third and the third baseman was called for interfering with the runner.
The Knights added two runs in the sixth off Columbia relief pitcher Jordin Toenjes.
Amber Smith singled, stole second and scored when Carroll slipped and fell as she battled the sun in right field on a fly ball by Hausman.
Hausman scored on an error by the first baseman on a grounder to third base by Bauer.
The Eagles got their lone run in the sixth as Carroll led off with a double and later scored on a wild pitch.
Contact reporter Steve Korte at skorte@bnd.com or 239-2522.
