They flew above the clouds, arrived in street clothes, instantly changed into uniform and left the scene heroes on Saturday.

One of them even shrugged off getting flattened by a car.

No, this duo doesn't wear red capes.

They prefer to sport Griggsvile-Perry softball uniforms.

Aja and Devin Hurst, the lone seniors on the Lady Tornadoes softball team, knew they might be a tad late to the 5:45 p.m. Pike County Conference Tournament championship against Pittsfield on Saturday night.

That's because the two were in Galveston, Texas, for their senior trip.

Instead of their scheduled flight arriving at 2:45 p.m. in St. Louis, they ended up leaving Houston at that time.

Sometimes things don't go as planned.

"I honest to God didn't think we were going to make it at all," Devin said.

The plane, which had been delayed because a pilot's oxygen mask wasn't functioning properly, finally arrived around 5 p.m. in St. Louis, but there would be no speeding to the game since the girls rode the bus.

By the time the Hursts arrived in Pittsfield, the game was already decided.

Or so it seemed.

Pittsfield led 9-4 in the bottom of the sixth.

"It wouldn't have mattered if there were two seconds left in the seventh inning -- we were going to play and we were going to get some runs on the board," Aja said.

The two immediately headed toward the concession stand, where their uniform and equipment lay.

"We ran and got them and changed in about .2 seconds," Aja said.

The Hursts, who normally form Griggsville-Perry's starting middle infield, warmed up during the bottom of the sixth and took the field in the top of the seventh.

"The mood just changed completely," freshman pitcher Lacy Emrick said. "You could just tell that they were there because the mood of the game was just different -- back to how it had been when they were there (in previous games)."

Griggsville-Perry held Pittsfield scoreless in the top of the seventh.

But the Lady Saukees had a five-run cushion and were three outs away from winning the PCC tourney.

"We knew we had little time to do it," Aja said. "Pittsfield had beat us pretty badly in the first game, so we wanted our revenge and we were out for blood."

The first seven batters of the inning reached base safely and the Lady Tornadoes completed the unthinkable, with two outs to spare, topping Pittsfield 10-9.

Devin, the fourth batter up in the inning, singled in two runs and Aja had an RBI single two batters later.

Runners with average speed would have easily turned Devin's hit into a double. But most base runners aren't playing four days after getting hit -- and flipped over -- by an automobile. She had been hit approximately nine hours before leaving for the senior trip.

"My leg's pretty messed up," Devin said. "I've got a bad elbow. And a big 'ol bruise on my shoulder and some road rash. My leg took the brunt of it. For the most part I pretty much can't walk. I've got a lot of bruising. My leg was probably double the size and my foot was so swollen that you could no longer see any of the ankle bone. ... It was a crazy time trying to be able to walk on it."

Still, nothing was going to stop her from going on that senior trip.

Or from beating Pittsfield.

It should be noted that the Hursts could only do two at-bats worth of damage. The rest of the Griggsville-Perry team, which started five freshmen in the twins' absence, also played major roles in the comeback.

"We knew the girls could do it," Aja said. "But we just showed up to give them the extra push."

-- mgoldberg@whig.com / 221-3367