Rivals collide on the softball diamond when the Washington Demons host the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks tonight in a game you can hear on KCII. Washington comes in off a split of a doubleheader Monday at Burlington, but the Demons are still 20-11.

Behind the excellent performance of freshman Leighton Salazar and sophomore Ella Greiner at the top of the order, Washington has put up better than seven runs per game. Salazar has a .545 batting average and is top five in the state in Class 3A in hits and runs scored, while Greiner is hitting .460 with five home runs and a team-high 31 runs batted in. Washington head coach Ben Obermann says his lineup can compete with anyone.

“We’re doing some good things,” Obermann says. “We’re having great at-bats, having quality at-bats, [and] we really preach that because, a lot of times, you can’t control the results and the outcome. So, in all three facets of the game, we’ve been pretty pleased.”

Mid-Prairie is 14-15 but swept a doubleheader Monday at Durant. Sophomore Sydney Knebel has been excellent at the plate with a team-high 22 RBI and also posted a team-best 3.06 earned-run average in the pitcher’s circle. Golden Hawk head coach Amy Hartstock-Williams tells KCII Sports it will take discipline for her other hitters to have success like they did on Monday against Durant.

“[The key is] waiting for that good pitch,” Hartstock-Williams says. “Waiting for the strike and not swinging at just anything walk [when] walking up there, but yet attacking first-pitch strikes and not waiting for [pitchers] to spin it later on in the count.”

The Demons knocked off the Golden Hawks 8-3 earlier this season at the Iowa City West Classic. You can hear Washington battle Mid-Prairie in rivalry softball beginning with the pregame show at 7 o’clock this evening on 102.5 FM and AM 1380 KCII as well as streaming on KCIIradio.com.