The No.7 Washington softball team will host No. 4 in 3A Mid-Prairie tonight for a doubleheader.

The Demons dropped a game on Monday to conference leading Fairfield, and were shutout for the first time this season, and with No. 4 Mid-Prairie it looks as though things won’t be any easier tonight.

The Golden Hawks are 16-9 this season, and hitting .347 with 153 runs and a .413 on base percentage. Their main pitcher Olivia Lugar has an ERA of 2.48, 68 strikeouts and has held opponents to hitting
.274.

The Demons, despite having quieter bats than usual, are still sitting in fourth place in the whole state in batting average and on base percentage as they are hitting .435 and getting on base close to half of the time. Washington is also near the bottom of the page in strikeouts despite Grunwald fanning six Demons in the last game.

Head coach Angie Shrader says this is a game that her girls will need to bounce back on, because the rest of the week doesn’t get easier.

“We have to come in, refocus and get past the Fairfield loss and get ready to go again because we have another big week,” Shrader said. “The Rest of the week ahead with Mid-Prairie tonight and then a big Muscatine tournament on Friday and Saturday, and then the whole next week is filled with games. The one loss to Fairfield is obviously frustrating, but we have to come back and be ready to play a big game tonight.”

Ashley Rausch and Maddie Bohr combine for an ERA of 1.91 108 strikeouts and they are holding opponents to hitting .197.

Shrader says either one of them can start first or second, it is just more of a feeling of who’s going to be better in the first game and who’s going to be better in the second.

“Both of them are pitching well, we’re just trying to figure out if one of them performing better than the other in a certain situation of playing first and then pitching second or pitching first and then playing second, and see if there is a difference in how they how they perform or how they feel comfortable,” Shrader said. “ Right now they seem to be answering in both aspects of it pitching first or pitching second, they’re both doing their jobs and doing a nice job at it.”

You can catch all of the action tonight between the ranked Demons and Golden Hawks on AM and FM KCII and KCIIradio.com under radio plus, with pregame starting at 5:15 and first pitch at 5:30 for game one, and then stick around for the second game coming up after the first one finishes. The one to count on for local sports coverage is AM and FM KCII.