The Washington Demons have made it to the biggest stage in Iowa high school softball, and now they’ll have to go through defending champion Williamsburg to advance from the Class 3A state quarterfinals Tuesday on KCII.

Washington’s first trip to the state tournament since 2013 comes courtesy of an electric lineup that has scored the third-most runs and collected the fourth-most hits in the state.

The Demons are 29-9 and finished the regular season ranked 10th in Class 3A thanks to all-state hitters like junior Leighton Salazar, who has team highs of a .530 batting average, 70 total hits, 58 runs scored and 53 stolen bases.

Senior Ella Greiner is also well on her way to all-state honors after hitting .452 going into the state tournament with nine doubles, three home runs and a team-high 45 runs batted in.

Mix in sophomore Colbie Greiner’s career-best season, batting .407 with 13 doubles, four homers and 39 RBI, and all three of the hitters at the top of the lineup for Washington have scored at least 37 runs and driven in plenty more.

But it’s not just the top of the order that makes the Demons so potent. Seniors Alyvia Anderson and Bella Salazar are each hitting better than .350 and have combined for 58 RBI, while Halle Cuddeback provides some power with 10 doubles and a home run in her senior season.

And the trio of freshman starters for Washington are on a roll in the playoffs, as Makenzie Messer, Natalie Hartman and Reagan Miller combined for 12 total hits, four doubles, 12 runs scored and 12 runs batted in across the three regional tournament wins that got the Demons to Fort Dodge.

Head coach Ben Obermann tells KCII Sports that everything’s coming together for his team at just the right time, saying “We feel like we’re one of the hottest teams in the state right now, and we’re going to attack Williamsburg. We feel like we’ve got a good plan in place, and now it just comes down to execution.”

To reach the state semifinals, Washington will have take down a perennial powerhouse in Williamsburg, who has won the Class 3A title in each of the last two seasons and is playing at the state tournament for a sixth straight year.

Behind the highest-scoring lineup in Class 3A and the second-highest batting average and on-base percentages as a team in the state, the Raiders are 33-7 and have won 10 straight.

But the Demons are just as hot, winning 21 of their last 26 games, including beating a Davenport Assumption team in the Region 5 finals last week that played the Raiders in the state championship game a season ago.

You can hear all the action as Washington takes on Williamsburg in the state softball quarterfinals Tuesday morning on all KCII stations and streaming on KCIIradio.com and the KCII apps, starting with the Countdown to First Pitch at 9:30.