The Washington Demon softball team played their game of the season last night, upsetting defending 2A state champion Iowa City Regina in a 3-0 shutout.

The game was all knotted up at zero for the first five and a half innings.  The Demons had some baserunners in the second and fifth innings but could not get them across.  Washington broke the silence in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run double to deep right-center field, taking a 2-0 lead.  They would score one more that half of the inning, and a three-up, three-down seventh for Regina would seal the Demon victory.

Regina came into last night’s game ranked #8 in class 2A.  Despite that, though, they couldn’t do anything against the pitching of Molly Sparks.

Sparks was easily the player of the game.  She was incredible in the circle, throwing seven shutout innings on three hits and striking out five.  She was also the one to notch the board-cracking double in crunch time to help secure her own victory.

The Demons were coming off a beating by Keokuk in a double-header the night before, and head coach Ben Obermann says the shift in performance says a lot about his team .

“It’s just a testament to our girls with their work ethic and their drive,” Obermann said.  “They don’t care who we’re playing.  And after last night, you didn’t know what team would show up tonight for us, and we played like a team we expected to be all season long.  It’s nice to take it to Iowa City Regina like that.  They came here probably expecting to walk home with a W, and we were the better team tonight.  And that’s exciting.”

Their next action will come tomorrow night when they welcome Southeast Conference foe Mount Pleasant to town for a double-header.