The St. Anthony Lady Bulldogs had a chance to wrap up the conference title Tuesday and they wasted no time taking charge.
The Lady Bulldogs exploded for nine runs in the first inning and then rolled to a 15-0 win at home over Dieterich, clinching the National Trail Conference regular season championship with a perfect 6-0 record.
St. Anthony banged out 11 hits in that opening inning, including 10 in a row, to take the early command. Addie Wernsing started the uprising with a one-out single. Then with two outs, 10 straight batters collected hits. Anna Faber had a two-run triple, Maddie Kibler and Sydney Kibler had back-to-back RBI doubles, and Stacie Vonderheide, Cameron Rios, Wernsing and Hailey Niebrugge each added run-scoring singles.
The Lady Bulldogs tacked on three more runs in the second and then ended the game with a three-run fourth.
SAHS finished with 19 hits. Wernsing went 4-for-4, while Lucy Fearday had three hits. Faber drove in four runs, while Wernsing and Fearday both had three RBI.
Sydney Kibler and Fearday both pitched two innings and combined to throw a one-hitter. They didn’t walk a batter and struck out six.
The Lady Bulldogs improved to 15-8 overall. They will now compete in the Class 1 Regional C and enter as the No. 1 seed. Their opening game will be on Thursday, June 3. They will face either Mulberry Grove or Ramsey. The game will be at 4:30 p.m. at Bulldog Field.
The winner will then face either Altamont or Beecher City/Cowden-Herrick for the regional championship. That game will be at 4:30 p.m. at the home of the higher seed.