WILLARD — The glass slipper now belongs to Madison.
Bri Bowles belted a second-inning grand slam and the fifth-seeded Rams avenged a regular season loss with a 10-6 win over No. 4 Ontario in the first game of Tuesday’s Division II district semifinal doubleheader at Willard.
Madison will take on No. 3 Clear Fork at 5 p.m. Friday in Willard for the district title. The Colts rallied for a 4-2 win over No. 2 Bellevue in the nightcap.
The Warriors rode a wave of momentum into Tuesday’s showdown after dispatching top-seeded Lexington in last week’s sectional championship game, but the Rams took command early. Madison scored four runs in the top of the first with Kyleigh Reiter delivering a two-run single.
The Rams took complete control in the second when Bowles came to the plate with the bases loaded and launched the first pitch of the at bat over the wall in center field.
“As soon as I hit that ball I knew it was gone,” Bowles said. “I was ready for that outside pitch and I went with it.”
Making matter worse for Ontario, shortstop Taylor Mullins was injured in a collision later in the inning and suffered what appeared to be a serious injury to her left ankle. Mullins had to be carried off the field.
“When she planted her foot, the left fielder’s foot landed on top of hers and she fell the other way,” Ontario coach Sean Snow said. “That really hurt us. There were a lot of things that hurt us.
“I thought we showed some jitters. We haven’t looked that way in a little while.”
The Rams led 10-1 going to the home half of the fourth when a pair of defensive miscues left the door open and Ontario took advantage. Halle Ciroli belted a three-run homer to make it 10-5.
“Our girls kept fighting, but we dug ourselves a big hole,” Snow said. “That is hard to overcome.”
A sacrifice fly by Ciroli in the bottom of the sixth trimmed Madison’s lead to 10-6 and when Izzy Graaf singled to start the seventh, Rams’ coach Tim Niswander turned to freshman Layla Azmoun. The right-hander recorded the final three outs to preserve the win.
“She has a little bit of a funky motion, but she throws strikes,” Niswander said. “She’s got a really good secondary pitch which we did not throw because she was pounding the zone with the fastball.
“She’s gotten a ton of innings this year that we weren’t really expecting her to get, but she’s done a great job.”
The win was the 200th coaching victory for Niswander.
“It’s a testament to the kids that I’ve had,” Niswander said. “You don’t win 200 games without great players. I have kids who are willing to work and put in the time and do the things we need to do to be successful.”
