The Washington Demons have a goal to get back to state for the third time in-a-row, and it became more of a reality on Saturday night when they upset ranked Davenport Assumption 6-2.

In a game that was a pitchers’ dual, it was Assumption that threatened throughout the first half of the game, but left runners in scoring position through the third inning, before finally striking in the fourth when the lead-off batter reached on a bad error, and an RBI single brought her home to make it 1-0. The Demons struckout five times in the game by the fourth inning, and the air was humid and heavy, but that didn’t stop Ashley Rausch from stepping up with one out and launching a solo shot to tie it up 1-1, and that seemed to wake up the bats.

Washington exploded in the fifth inning with five runs and batted through the order to give themselves a 6-1 lead going into the last few innings. Assumption threatened one more time in the sixth inning when they put two on with a lead-off double and an error, but only got one across the plate, and Rausch took care of the rest in the seventh, striking out two and punching the Demons ticket to the regional final.

Demon head coach Angie Shrader talked after the game about Rausch being a key factor on offense and defense against the Lady Knights, and what was going through her head during the home run blast.

“That is one of those hits that you just aren’t sure where it was going and I’m standing over at third base saying, ‘just go over, just go over,’ and Ashley was a key factor tonight. She got the bats going in that solo home run she go the bats going and then in the fifth inning we obviously had the runners on base, but she was the one that drove in the runs to start that big rally in the fifth and pitched a phenomenal game tonight, she was on fire. She wanted to win this game and there was nothing that was going to stop her,” Shrader said.

The Demons were led by Rausch at the plate, going 2-3 with two runs and three RBI’s, while Grace Redlinger was 1-3 with a run and two RBI’s. In the circle, Rausch went all seven and gave up seven hits, two runs, one earned, walked one and fanned seven.

Washington moves on to play Clear Creak Amana tomorrow night at Cedar Rapid Xavier. CCA won 2-0 in the semifinal game. KCII will bring you live coverage of the game.