By Quint Turner

It was a pitchers’ duel for four innings Monday, but the Maverick offense drove in three important runs to break a 1-1 tie, and Alyssa Reuble shut the door on the Oak Harbor Wildcats to lead Meadowdale in a 6-1 win. Reuble went a complete seven-inning game and threw 11 strikeouts, giving up no walks and five hits. On the offensive side, the 2-3-4 hitters (Reuble, Lindsey Milner and Hailey Costello) combined for six hits and three RBI.

Reuble surrendered a leadoff single, but she started a 1-6-3 double play after snagging a fast grounder and getting it to Costello who threw it to Ashley Brooke. Reuble then had a groundout to end the inning. Shannon Haukap hit a leadoff double to start the bottom of the first. Reuble walked and then Milner hit a single to load the bases. Costello struck out for the first out, but Ashley Brooke hit a groundout to the shortstop that scored Haukap from third. Tiffany Dewayne struck out looking to end the inning, but the Mavericks were up 1-0 after the first.

In the second, once again Reuble gave up a leadoff single, but she struck the next batter out, and Haukap picked off the runner at first for the second out. Reuble then got another strikeout to end the inning. The Mavs went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the second.

In the third, Reuble struck out the side. The first and last were looking, and the second was a swinging strikeout. The Mavericks had runners on first and second after two hard hit ground balls were bobbled by Wildcat infielders, but neither Costello or Brooke was able to drive them in, and the inning was over. It was another 1-2-3 inning for the Wildcats in the fourth, and all three were easy groundouts that the infield played perfectly.

For the bottom of the fourth, Dewayne led off with a single, and then Alexa Bickel walked with one out to get runners at first and second. A wild pitch with two outs moved them over to second and third, but Haukap grounded out to end the inning.

After a leadoff flyout, Oak Harbor put runners on first and third with one out and were able to drive in a run to tie the game in the top of the fifth. The Mavs came right back, right away. Reuble led off with a double, and Milner drove her home on a single. She advanced to second on the throw home, and she scored on a single by Costello to make it 3-1. Ciarra Hart hit a two-out double to drive home Costello after she stole second to make it 4-1. Bickel grounded out to end the inning.

After a lead-off walk, Reuble got the Wildcat offense to groundout, and then threw to strikeouts to efficiently end the sixth. In the bottom half of the inning, the Mavs tacked on two more. Nicole Steg got a lead-off walk, but Haukap hit into a fielder’s choice that left Haukap at first and Steg out. Reuble walked, and then Haukap and her executed a double steal to put runners at second and third with one out. As Milner was up, there was a wild pitch, and Haukap was able to beat the throw home to make it 5-1. Milner then hit a single to drive in Reuble to put the Mavs up 6-1. Brooke and Dewayne flew out to end the bottom of the sixth. Reuble earned the win in the seventh as she struck out the side to clinch the victory as a 6-1 Maverick win.

With the win, the Mavericks go to 7-4 (8-5 overall), and are fourth in the standings with six games to go. With the loss, the Wildcats fall to 1-10 (3-12 overall), and are ninth in the standings with four games to go.

Sports correspondent Quint Turner is a sophomore at Meadowdale High School.