The most important game to date has arrived for the Washington softball team, as they open the class 4A regionals tonight with a quarterfinal bout at Oskaloosa. 

The Demons closed the regular season 20-16 after a doubleheader sweep of Mount Pleasant on Monday. Kellie Dallmeyer has put together a memorable senior campaign with a .530 batting average and 43 RBI. Eighth graders Halle Cuddeback and Bella Salazar have emerged in the circle with a 4.27 and 4.64 ERA, respectively. The Indians are 19-14 and have relied on their junior ace pitcher Faith DeRonde with a 2.00 ERA in 115 innings of work. The team is batting .334 led by Maleah Walker with a .431 average. These two squads clashed on May 27th with the doubleheader ending in a split, but Demon head coach Ben Obermann tells KCII Sports both teams are entirely different from the first meeting. “We didn’t see their ace early in the year and they didn’t see any of our current pitchers so it will be a completely different game. I have seen them a couple times recently and they have some girls that can really swing it. Faith DeRonde is an excellent pitcher and lead things off for them. They are a lot like us with youth in the lineup and gelling at the right time. You are going to see two teams that are playing their best ball in tournament play.”

First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight at Oskaloosa High School and listen to all of the action on FM 106.1 KCII.