Mid-Prairie jumped up early and cruised to a regional quarterfinal win over Louisa-Muscatine Tuesday night in Kalona, 11-1 in six innings. The Golden Hawks posted three runs in the first inning as Alex Rath, Lexi Duwa and Amber Kral all reached and came home on a bases clearing double by Emma Troyer. In the third Mid-Prairie got two more as Maddie Zahradnek came home on an RBI double from Chelsea Kral and Kral came in on an RBI single by Rath.

The Hawks made it 8-0 in the fourth when Duwa came in on an RBI triple by Amber Kral. Kral and Troyer both scored on wild pitches. Mid-Prairie had a chance to end it in the fifth, scoring once more when Amber Kral drove in Rath to make it 9-0 but the Golden Hawks would leave them loaded. In the top of the sixth L-M broke through with a single from Lacy Verink, Lexi Reimers came up next and doubled to drive her in and make the score 9-1. That was as close as the Falcons would get as Mid-Prairie ended things in the bottom half with Chelsea Kral and Ashley Sojka reaching on singles to lead off the inning and both came home on a throwing error on Duwa’s bunt attempt to end the game. After the game Head Coach Kara Beatty talked about her team’s performance in the opening round.

“Out top two slappers are excellent. They have great speed, they get on the bags for us, and then our three hitter, Amber Kral, has just been clutch for us, she’s hit the ball hard no matter what. So those three people are three key factors in the lineup to get us going,” Beatty said.

Taylor Kurtz got the win in the circle going all six innings, allowing three hits, one run, walking one and striking out six, at one point Kurtz sat down 14 straight hitters. Olivia Howell took the loss going three and a third innings, giving up eight hits, seven runs, walking four and striking out four. At the plate the Hawks were led by Duwa’s three for three night with two runs scored, Amber Kral was two for three with two RBI and two runs scored. Mid-Prairie is now 23-10 on the year and will play the Williamsburg Raiders who beat West Liberty 9-5 last night. Mid-Prairie has defeated Williamsburg once this season in the teams’ only meeting, by a 10-0 score in five innings. That regional semi final will be played Friday night at 7PM in Kalona.