Demons defeat L-M in weekend tournament

After a competitive weekend, the Washington softball team finally broke through on Saturday with a win.

Facing their final out of the game against Class 2A, No. 14 Louisa-Muscatine, the Demons rallied to pull out a victory against the Falcons.

?We were down 5-2 in the sixth inning, and then we put up a five-spot on them,? Washington softball head coach Ben Obermann said. ?We were down to our last out with nobody on, and then we got a couple of baserunners on, and Jessie (Buchholz) came up with a great bases-clearing double to tie it up. Megan Mitchell and Brooke Stout followed that up, and it was nice to see the continuous hitting.?

The 7-5 victory highlighted the weekend at the weekend tournament in Muscatine, which saw the Demons go 1-3.

In the victory against L-M, Buchholz went 4-for-4 with a run and the three seventh-inning RBIs, with Molly Sparks, Stout and Mitchell all recording RBIs in the contest.

Sparks earned the win in the circle, allowing nine hits and one earned run, walking two.

In another close contest, the Demons took Class 5A opponent Muscatine to extra innings with a seventh-inning rally.

The Demons trailed 2-0 going into the seventh inning, when Sparks and Buchholz scored on hits from Stout and Morgan Brinning, tying the game up.

Going to international rules, the Demons fell in the eighth inning, losing 3-2.

Alexa Mitchell threw the complete game for Washington, giving up five hits and striking out six over the game.

?Muscatine was a great game,? Obermann said. ?Alexa Mitchell probably pitched her best game of the year out of the circle for us when we came up with those two runs in the seventh. Unfortunately we couldn?t get it done in the eighth when we went to international rules.?

Washington had six hits in the game.

In a game against Class 2A, No. 2 ranked Durant, the Demons jumped up early, posting four runs in the first inning, but they couldn?t hang onto the momentum, falling 11-6, with Durant posting a seven-run third inning.

Kayla Andrew notched two RBIs in the game, while six different Demons accounted for the runs in the game.

In their other game of the tournament, Washington fell in a 6-3 contest to Wilton, with Wilton notching a five-run second inning.

Brinning had a pair of hits in the game, with Megan Mitchell claiming two RBIs, and Taylor Dicks driving in a run.

Washington will see another ranked opponent on Monday night, when they travel to Keokuk, who is No. 7 in Class 4A, and searching for a Southeast Conference title.

?We have a big say of who wins our conference,? Obermann said. ?Keokuk is way up there right now, and we are playing the role of the spoiler. In the future, we?ll be one of the teams competing in the last two weeks of the season to win the league, but the pressure is all on them (on Monday). If we get beat, we want to look at it and be able to say, ?they beat us.??