West Haven — Lili Stoddard recently completed her senior scrapbook at Waterford High School. On it, the seniors were required to name the things to do on their "bucket list," items they hope to accomplish in the future.

Stoddard, looking to the not-too-distant future, listed winning a state championship.

And Tuesday afternoon, she helped make sure the third-seeded Waterford softball team would at least have that chance. Stoddard, the Lancers' senior catcher, drove in four runs in the team's 11-2 victory over No. 18 Granby in the Class M state tournament semifinals at West Haven High School.

Waterford (21-4) will play No. 8 Seymour, a 5-0 winner over No. 4 Notre Dame of Fairfield, in the championship game on Saturday at 1 p.m. at West Haven.

"I think it's just going into the state tournament, we know what our job is," Stoddard said of the Lancers' 14-hit outburst, which led to four runs in each the first and second innings for an 8-0 lead. "Everybody's doing their job. If we have someone come off the bench, they do their job."

It is Waterford's first state championship appearance since 2013, when the Lancers won the Class M title, also with a win over Granby.

That championship was one of three captured by former coach Liz Sutman (2009, 2010, 2013), the younger sister of current coach Andy Walker, now in his fourth season.

"I'm happy to continue carrying on the family tradition here," Walker said with a laugh.

Waterford's run to the final — since falling 3-0 to Griswold in the semifinals of the Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament — has been an exceptionally impressive one, too.

The Lancers entered Tuesday having mashed their Class M opponents by a 42-0 margin and expanded that total to 52-0, leading 10-0 after three innings before allowing Granby (19-7) a run in the fourth.

Rachel Miller, Waterford's all-state pitcher, scattered six hits over five-plus innings, with freshman Maddie Burrows coming on with two on and nobody out in the sixth to finish off the Bears.

Miller also had hits in her first four at-bats against Granby, finishing 4-for-5 after a groundout in the sixth. Ciana Chiappone and Stoddard had two hits each.

"We swing the bats. That's the nice thing about this team," Walker said. "That (game against Griswold) was an anomaly. ... (In practice), we do stations, side toss, we have live (batting practice) on the field with game situations. Every batter comes up with a 2-1 count; that puts pressure on the pitcher and pressure on the hitter. They are doing a great job of applying what they've learned as hitters."

"Since (the Griswold game), we've taken 75 swings every practice. We separate it by infield and outfield," said Miller, who hits with the outfielders. "And I've been getting 75 swings."

Chiappone led off the first inning with a line drive off Granby pitcher Anna-Marie Groskritz that went for an infield single and Miller followed with a sharp ground ball to shortstop that also went for an infield hit. With one out, Madison Nott chopped a ball up the middle for an RBI single, Anna Donahue hit an RBI double to the left-field fence and Stoddard finished the rally with a two-run double down the left-field line.

In the second, Chiappone was hit by a pitch, Miller laid down a bunt single and the runners advanced to second and third on a double steal. Gina McKittrick singled to right, scoring Chiappone, and then McKittrick engaged herself in a rundown which scored Miller. McKittrick was safe. With one out, Donahue singled and the runners each moved up a base on the play, landing on second and third. Stoddard's ensuing single scored two runs for an 8-0 lead.

The Lancers added two more in the third, benefitting from two Granby errors, and one in the fourth on an RBI single by Miller.

Waterford joins fellow ECC team Norwich Free Academy in the finals. NFA, the league's Division I tournament champion, reached the Class LL final with a 4-2 semifinal victory Monday over Cheshire.

Stoddard, meanwhile, completes her senior season with a chance to tick a chore off the bucket list before she even leaves high school. She missed last season after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus while playing basketball.

"She is a leader on the field," Walker said of Stoddard. "Having her back there has been great. She's a competitor. She's really the glue back there."

"It's been a great comeback season," Stoddard said. "Just to have the opportunity to (win a title) ..."

v.fulkerson@theday.com