The Highview Christian Academy Knights softball team got a no hitter thrown by Kelsea McDonald and some timely hitting Tuesday afternoon to upset Woodland 6-3 in a Class D preliminary game that was shortened to five innings because of thunderstorms in Baileyville.
The #10 Knights broke out to a 3-0 lead in the third inning on a two run single by Cece Allard and an RBI double from Cassidy Lessner.
The seventh ranked Woodland Dragons would tie the game in the bottom of the third though as McDonald got into some trouble with base on balls and two errors from the Knights defense.
HCA (8-8) would take advantage of some walks of their own to regain a three run lead in the top of the fourth at 6-3 and the Knights would rely on the strong pitching of McDonald to finish off the game and earn a trip to the quarterfinals.
Michaela Hill and Megan McDonald each scored a pair of runs for the winners. The Knights were held to three hits, the single by Allard and the double and also a single by Lessner but took advantage of eight walks to get the victory.
K. McDonald pitched five innings allowing three runs, only one earned, no hits, four walks and had nine strikeouts to get the win. Sadie Smith pitched five innings as well for Woodland, who finishes at 9-8. Smith allowed six runs, three hits, eight walks and struckout seven.
HCA Coach Matt McDonald said after the game, “We can feel the momentum coming off this big win today. We have faced alot of adversity all season long but have gotten stronger because of it”. When asked about the game coming up Thursday with second ranked Southern Aroostook, McDonald added, “We feel we match up really well with them and we are really excited to make the trip up there on Thursday”.
Highview will head to Dyer Brook for the quarterfinal round on Thursday for a 3 p.m. contest against 10-4 Southern Aroostook. Highview will be making its second trip in a row to the quarterfinals, falling last year to PVHS, after upsetting fourth ranked Fort Fairfield in the prelims.
10 Highview (8-8) – 0 0 3 3 0- 6 3 2
7 Woodland (9-8) – 0 0 3 0 0- 3 0 2
WP- K. McDonald LP- Smith
