The Demon softball team starts their run at the state tournament tonight when they host Keokuk for one game.

This will be the fifth time these two teams have played and they are evenly split at two wins a piece. Keokuk also had to play into this game, beating Ft. Madison 7-5 to get to this game.

Washington comes in at 27-11, after a tough 8-2 loss to Cedar Rapids Prairie that involved six defensive errors. They are hitting .351 as a team and are still led by Kaitlin Buchholz with a .458 average and 58 RBI’s with four homeruns. There are three Demons will averages over .400 including lead off hitting Maddie Bohr and clean up hitter Ashley Rausch. Sammy Ellingson is just under at .390.

The Demons will look to their most senior arm in Ashley Rausch who is 14-9 on the year with a 2.29 ERA and 97 strikeouts.

The Chiefs are 23-17, and hitting .262 as a team. They have been on a pretty good roll lately, winning seven of their last ten, including wins over Burlington, Mid-Prairie, and a 2-0 loss to Muscatine. Their top hitter is Makenzie Pezley, hitting .330 on the year with 10 RBI’s, and Chelsea Deyo with a .327 average and 33 RBI’s with seven homers.

Pitching wise Taylor Lemon has been their girl, with a 19-9 record, 73 strikeouts and opponents hitting .261 off of her.

This game will be at Washington, and you can hear it right here on AM and FM KCII and KCIIradio.com under radio plus with pregame at 6:30 and first pitch at 7, the one to count on for today’s local sports coverage is AM and FM KCII and KCIIradio.com.