The time-honored tradition of senior night descended upon the Golden Hawks and coming into town hoping to play spoiler was a fellow River Valley Conference member, the Durant Wildcats. 

Honoring two seniors, Madeline Schrader and Molly Yoder, Mid-Praire rallied in the sixth frame to turn their last home game of the regular season into a thrilling 10-6 victory over the Wildcats. 

This was the third time in four days these two teams battled, with the first two games being a doubleheader in Durant. Mid-Prairie, who won both games of the doubleheader, made it three wins in a row over Durant to complete the season sweep. 

Durant, after a runless two innings by both teams, took the lead in the third after they scored a single run. The Wildcats threatened to score even more when the bases became loaded with only one out, but the Hawks stayed calm and executed a double play, a force out at second and first base, to end the inning. 

Not trailing for long the Golden Hawks scored a run of their own in the bottom of the third to tie the game. 

This scored run was spearheaded by sophomore Dakota Mitchell. Mitchell made great contact with the ball to send it deep into right center field, allowing her to race all the way to third base. She came home after sophomore Brenna Jehle hit a single. 

Even though the Fourth of July was still a couple days away, the fourth inning saw some fireworks, courtesy of Mid-Prairie freshman Kadence Grout. 

In the bottom of the fourth Schrader hit the ball down the third base line for a base hit. With a runner on base Grout stepped up to bat and walloped the ball out of the park for a two-run home run. Grout’s second home run of the season gave Mid-Prairie a 3-1 lead. 

Scoring for the third consecutive inning, Mid-Prairie added to its lead in the fifth frame. Up first to bat was Jehle who got things rolling by hitting a leadoff double. Freshman Sophie Miller proceeded to hit a double of her own, letting Jehle run home for the score. 

Not going down without a fight the Wildcats responded in the top of the sixth, an inning that proved to be very susceptible to runs scored.

Storming back to snatch the lead away from Mid-Prairie the Wildcats scored five runs on five hits. All the momentum seemed to be on Durant’s side, but Mid-Praire responded in kind. In the bottom of the sixth the Golden Hawks roared back, scoring six runs to take a four-run lead.

This six-run inning began with Schrader hitting a leadoff double. Grout then hit a single to bring Schrader home. Mid-Prairie eighth grader Morgyn Bender, the designated runner for Grout, came home off the bat of Yoder. 

The second double of the inning came from Miller and this hit brought two home. Senior Sydney Knebel and junior Hannah Sellers would both hit base hits to bring in one run each.

The rally was complete, now all Mid-Prairie had to do was play stout defense in the top of the seventh to keep its lead and that is exactly what they did. Holding the Wildcats to no runs scored, the Golden Hawks secured the senior night win.

Pitching a full game for Mid-Prairie was Knebel. Knebel ended the game with three strikeouts, giving up seven hits. 

Bringing in a total of three batters, the home run hitter Grout led the team with three RBI’s. Schrader and Miller both had three hits to tie for the team lead.

Up next for Mid-Prairie (16-10) will be a Class 3A Region 6 quarter final playoff game against the Center Point-Urbana Stormin Pointers on July 6.