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Midd-West wins first district game in 15 years

todd hummel, the daily item, sunbury, pa.
·4 min read

May 22—MIDDLEBURG — Cali Sauer and her teammates were happy to face to Lourdes Regional in Wednesday's District 4 Class 3A quarterfinals at home.

Nothing against the caliber of team the Red Raiders are, but it's more that Midd-West didn't know much about its Schuylkill League opponent.

"It allows us to stay in (the moment) when it's somebody we don't know," Sauer said.

Sauer knocked in four runs, including a three-run homer, and Miley Beachel and Kylie Mitch combined to shutdown the potent Lourdes Regional attack as Midd-West won its first District 4 softball game since 2009 with a 12-2 five-inning win over the Red Raiders at Sports Boosters Athletic Park in a contest delayed 35 minutes by a thunderstorm.

Midd-West (13-6), which last won a district playoff game when it downed Jersey Shore, 2-0, in the District 4 Class 3A semifinals, advances to face defending District 4 champion North Penn-Liberty (19-0), a 3-0 winner over Hughesville in its quarterfinal. The other semifinal will pit Athens (13-7), a 2-1 upset winner over No. 3-seed Mifflinburg, against Loyalsock or Towanda, whose game was pushed to today because of thunderstorms.

Things didn't get off to the greatest of starts for the Mustangs when Beachel got a strikeout to open the game, but a dropped third strike turned into a throwing error, putting the leadoff hitter of the game on second base. However, Beachel bounced back to record a strikeout and two groundouts to end the inning, and the Mustangs' offense took care of the rest.

Midd-West sent 11 hitters to plate in the bottom of the first, plating five runs thanks to seven walks issued by two Lourdes Regional pitchers. Starter Hailee Brown, who is battling an injury, hadn't pitched since May 1. She was forced to leave after walking the first two hitters of the game. Mikayla Adams got the next hitter on a comebacker to put runners on second and third. Courtesy runner Sam Leitch scored on a wild pitch. Jayda Dunn and Teagan Schreffler walked to load the bases.

Rachel Keister scored when an errant pickoff throw went down the left-field line. Dunn then scored on a wild pitch, and Sauer followed with an RBI single, the only hit of the inning, to make it 4-0. Beachel added a bases-loaded walk to cap the scoring.

Lourdes Regional (12-9) threatened again in the top of the second. Arianna Adams walked, Gabby Dueschine reached on an error, and Maddie Scandle reached on an infield single to load the bases with one out. Beachel got a pop to third and a strikeout to end the threat.

"We have to bring the energy, and we have to have our internal drive up a little bit. I saw some good things. Our defense on the first to third play that looked good (the Mustangs turned a 5-3-5 double play after Mikayla Adams was on second to open the third)," Midd-West coach Pete Voss said. "Outfield play was better for us, I was happy with that.

"But we have to find that extra gear to have teams play up to our level."

Beachel left the game to rest for Friday's semifinal after the Mustangs added six more runs in the second inning. Schreffler had an RBI single in front of Sauer's three-run towering blast to center field, her team-high fourth of the season made it 9-0.

Rachel Keister and Storm Wilt each added RBI singles later in the second for an 11-0 advantage.

Wilt made it 12-0 with an RBI single in the top of the fifth before Lourdes Regional finally broke through against Mitch for two unearned runs. Kamryn Kotzo reach on an error, and Mikayla Adams walked. Kotzo advanced to third on a flyball, before Adams took second on a catcher's indifference. Brown then doubled home two runs, before Mitch ended the game with a strikeout and a groundout.

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DISTRICT 4 CLASS 3A PLAYOFFS

QUARTERFINAL

at Sports Boosters Athletic Park, Midd-West H.S.

NO. 4 MIDD-WEST 12, NO. 5 LOURDES REGIONAL 2 (5 innings)

Lourdes Regional;000;02 — 2-4-1

Midd-West;560;1x — 12-8-5

Hailee Brown, Mikayla Adams (1) and M. Adams, Arianna Adams (1). Miley Beachel, Kylie Mitch (3) and Storm Wilt.

WP: Mitch; LP: Brown.

Lourdes Regional: Brown, 2-for-3, double, 2 RBIs.

Midd-West: Rachel Keister, 1-for-3, run, RBI; Wilt, 3-for-4, 2 RBIs; Jayda Dunn, 1-for-3, 2 runs; Teagan Schreffler, 1-for-1, 2 runs, RBI; Cali Sauer, 2-for-3, homer (2nd, two on), 2 runs, 4 RBIs; Briahna Keister, 1-for-2, 2 runs.