Midland Valley (13-4) softball took game two against North Augusta (13-5) 6-1 at home on Wednesday night.
The Mustangs found success in aggressive base running and lights-out pitching against the Jackets, whose bats went cold after winning 12-7 on Monday.
With the win, Midland Valley and North Augusta have a chance to win the region with a championship game on Friday.
“Our attitude yesterday was just to work, regroup and come back out here,” said Midland Valley head coach Katie Anderson. “We knew that our hitting was on Monday, defense was pretty good, pitching we needed to step up and our pitchers stepped up. They stepped all the way up.”
Karley Bedenbaugh earned the win after pitching four innings, striking out five, walking five and only allowing three hits. Larue Hicks took over for her in the fourth, allowing one run on two hits with no walks and no strikeouts.
Both teams had opportunities through the first two innings but it was the Mustangs who struck first at the bottom of third. With two outs Addison Haltiwanger and Bailey Seabolt singled and advanced into scoring position on the throw.
Anslee Heath singled to score both runners to give Midland Valley a 2-0 lead before the final out.
“The girls are quick,” Anderson said. “They’re base runners. They know what to do on the bases. They know when to take the next base, when to stay. They really trust me on third base. I'm running down the line with them and when I put my hands up, they get back. So they just trust the process and trust me and trust themselves.”
The Mustangs kept the momentum going, scoring another four runs in the next two innings. In the fifth, Midland Valley capitalized on missed catches in the outfield from North Augusta to score two runs.
Despite several scoring opportunities for the Jackets through walks, they could not get a timely hit when the team needed it. North Augusta had the bases loaded with two outs in the fourth inning but could not bring any runs across home plate.
In the fifth, the Jackets got one run back after two consecutive singles put LeAnn Gilbert on third base. Gilbert stole home to avoid the shutout for North Augusta.
“Midland Valley is a good team and I know they're always going to give us a good fight,” said North Augusta head coach Lindsey Jones. “But how we played tonight doesn't really show what North Augusta can do. So I'm hoping at our place on Friday we can find our groove a little bit more.”
The Jackets have a chance to regroup against Airport on Thursday to gain some momentum back before facing Midland Valley with the region on the line. Jones said the next step is working on being pickier about which pitches to swing at.
“We made some solid contact and it just was going straight to them,” she said. “You hope those fall occasionally, but sometimes it's just not going to. But that was probably the most strikeouts we've had in a game. And we're not necessarily a strikeout team. We just didn't play how we normally do.”
North Augusta feels confident knowing the deciding game will be played at Riverview Park as the Jackets look to get back on track.
“We play different at home, everybody does,” Jones said. “So, knowing that that that game is going to fall on our home turf Friday, gives you a little bit more momentum, obviously, but you can't rely on that.”
Region 4-AAAA will be decided on Friday with the first pitch scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
