In what seems like a blink of an eye, the Lady Dragons have wrapped up their regular season, finishing with conference matchups with the West Side Pirates and the Soda Springs Cardinals.  The two deafening wins helped the MHS team finish their season with a record of 18-4 before the post season tournament. 

Hosting the Pirates on Wednesday, April 29, Malad had a slow start to the game, allowing two early runs to West Side on account of an MHS error and timely hitting in the top of the first inning to take a quick 2–0 lead.

But Malad answered immediately. Starting out what turned out to be a 4 run inning, Harlee Maddox put a single to center field, followed by Aubrey Shulz before Stella Merja delivered a key two-RBI single to tie the game. With additional contributions from Logan Maroney and Kialey Pickett, the Lady Dragons surged ahead 4–2 by the end of the first inning.

From there, Malad took complete control of the game. Sarah Toone gave a stellar performance in the circle, shutting down West Side’s offensive momentum at the plate. Across the game, the hurler threw 35 strikes of her 49 pitches.

In the second inning, Malad extended its lead behind more timely hitting, including another big swing from Merja and a double from Toone. The MHS team continued to apply pressure with aggressive baserunning and took advantage of defensive errors by the Pirates to stretch the lead.

The game broke open in the third inning when Malad erupted for 9 runs. RBI hits from Maddox, Toone, and Pickett, along with a bases-clearing double from Liddia Gonzalez, highlighted the outburst. Nearly every player contributed during the rally as the Lady Dragons rolled to a commanding 17–2 victory. 

Malad carried that same energy into their game against the Cardinals, traveling to Soda Springs the following day.  Their final game of the season turned out to be a dominant shutout performance. The Lady Dragons got on the board in the first inning after Aubrey Shulz tripled and later scored on a wild pitch, setting the tone for another strong offensive showing.

While the offense found its rhythm early, it was Liddia Gonzalez who controlled the game from the circle. After allowing a leadoff double in the first inning, she quickly regrouped and stranded the runner with a pair of strikeouts. From that point on, Gonzalez was in command, consistently keeping Soda Springs hitters off balance and piling up strikeouts throughout the game.

Malad continued to build its lead in the second inning, with Karlee Blaisdell taking advantage of an error and scoring on Aspen Bingham’s double-bagger. Another run came as Bingham took advantage of a wild pitch, pushing the lead to 3–0.

The MHS team broke things open again in the third inning. Back-to-back doubles from Toone and Maroney got things started, Pickett following with a two-RBI single. Blaisdell then delivered one of the biggest hits of the game—a two-run home run—to extend the lead to 8–0.

Malad stayed aggressive in the later innings, adding another run in the fourth and capped off the scoring in the fifth with a three-run home run from Toone, part of a five-run inning that pushed the final margin to 13–0.

The momentum was just the energy the MHS team needed moving into the post-season tournaments.  Hosting districts again, a tradition for more than a decade, the Lady Dragons played their first district tournament game Monday, May 5, shutting out West Side 19-0.  Their second game will be played Tuesday afternoon against the Declo Hornets.  Watch next week’s issue for a  complete tournament writeup.