The Winona Christian Stars got a relatively easy two-game sweep to open the first round of the Class 4A playoffs.
The Stars beat Indianola 9-1 on Tuesday and then took a 12-2 win over the Colonels on Friday to take the series.
Winona Christian improves to 10-14 on the season and will play Washington in a best-of-three series next week. Game 1 will be at Winona on Tuesday with a possible doubleheader on Thursday at Washington.
Winona Christian 9, Indianola 1
The Stars broke open a tight game late with five runs in the seventh and took an eight -run win over Tuesday in the opening game of the playoffs.
Winona scored three in the third, one in the sixth and finished with five in the seventh.
The Stars had 12 hits in the contest, led by Zach Bledsoe who was 3-for-5 with three RBIs while Karson McCaleb was 2-for-4 with two doubles. Austin Horne was 2-for-4 while Cale Sproles was 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Hunter Land and Will Irwin each doubled for the Stars.
Irwin started on the mound and pitched all seven innings and gave up one run on three hatstand four walks while striking out six.
Winona Christian 12, Indianola 2
The Stars scored in every inning and took a five-inning, run-rule win on Friday.
Winona scored one in the first, five in the second and two in the third and led 8-2 after three innings. They added one in the fourth and finished with three in the fifth to take the win.
Winona had just six hits but drew 10 walks and took advantage of three errors and four hit batters. Jase Osborne was 3-for-3 with a home run, two runs scored and three RBIs. Will Irwin singled and scored three runs while Zach Bledsoe singled, walked twice and had two RBIs. Cale Sproles also scored twice for the Stars.
Austin Horne pitched the first 4 1/3 innings and gave up two unearned runs on four hits while striking out six. Bledsoe came in and got the last two outs for the Stars.
