The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk softball team scored a regional playoff win on the road Wednesday, taking out the Tipton Tigers 9-4. In the two teams’ only matchup during the season it was the Tigers who came out with a 2-1 win in Kalona in June. In the all-important postseason rematch the Golden Hawks led wire-to-wire. In a game heard on AM and FM KCII. Mid-Prairie got on the board first, with two first inning runs. Rylee Vercande led off the night with a single and was driven in by Jaselyn Robertson with a ringing double off the left field wall to make it 1-0. One batter later, Robertson came home on a passed ball and it was 2-0. Things stayed that way until the fifth thanks to good Mid-Prairie defense and a solid start by Golden Hawk senior Abbi Patterson, who took a no-hitter to the fourth. In the top of the fifth, Mid-Prairie gained some breathing room, scoring four times. Patterson drove in Karsen Jehle with an RBI single, then with two down, on a 3-2 pitch, Robertson blasted a three-run homer to dead center field to make it 6-0 Mid-Prairie. She spoke with KCII sports after the game about the at-bat. “I was looking for the same pitch as the double from my first at-bat. I was thinking I have a 3-2 count so hopefully she gives me something I want, otherwise I have to take what she gives me. It was one of those things where when I hit it I knew, this one’s gone. There’s always excitement. I did it. It happened. The dugout and my teammates get a huge boost of excitement, it’s a great feeling.”

Tipton wouldn’t go quietly. In the bottom half of the inning, the Tigers broke through with three runs on four hits to pull within 6-3. In their last at bat, Mid-Prairie added three insurance runs with Georgia Nisly delivering the RBI to build the lead back to 9-3 and the Hawks closed the door on Tipton in the seventh. Vercande finished three for three with three runs scored. Roberston was two for three with four RBI and scored three times. Patterson recorded the win going the distance, giving up nine hits and four runs while striking out five. Mid-Prairie is now 2-11 on the year and will play Friday in the regional semifinals in the Quad Cities against the winner of Columbus and Davenport Assumption which was rescheduled to Thursday night due to weather.