Wednesday may not have been a win for the Mid-Prairie softball team at No. 7 in Class 2A Wilton, but the Hawks proved they belonged. Mid-Prairie led early and late, but couldn’t hold off the top ten Beavers dropping an 8-7 decision. The Golden Hawks jumped on all-conference pitcher Charlotte Brown in the first, putting together hits by Dakota Mitchell, Gabi Robertson, Madeline Schrader and Sophie Miller with runs scored by Mitchell, Robertson and Schrader on RBI from Schrader, Miller and Sydney Knebel to grab a 3-0 advantage. The Beavers countered with their bats, scoring once each in the first and second innings with Payton Ganzer delivering a two-run double to give them a 4-3 lead in the third. Things would stay that way until the sixth, when the Hawks got to Brown again, this time batting all the way through the lineup scoring four times on four Wilton errors. Schrader, Brittney Kinsinger and Knebel all scored with Miller driving in a run. Wilton scored once in the sixth to get back within 7-5 and the Golden Hawks held their two run lead with the Beavers down to their final out, and eventually final strike before a last second Wilton rally on three straight hits and a Mid-Prairie error, plated three Wilton runs and sealed the Hawks fate. After the game, Golden Hawk head coach Amy Hartsock-Williams talked about what her team will take away from the experience. “We were able to manufacture runs, play the small ball when we needed to. Then come up with the big hit. The girls put all of that together against Brown who is a great pitcher. A lot of teams would have been happy to just be in the game. They would say ‘flush it’, you did well, you played them well, but, not us. This is a teachable moment. The two freshmen who had the last two grounders were trying to put the out before they did the things to get the out. Now they’re going to learn from it. We told them to go home and replay this and replay this and you see yourself get those outs, over and over.”

Sophie Miller went three for four with two driven in and a run scored. Schrader had two hits, scored twice and drove in one. Knebel went six and two thirds in the circle taking the loss. Mid-Prairie is now 12-10 with a trip to Camanche Thursday.