WEIRTON — The Weir softball team got hot at the plate and ultimately pulled away from Indian Creek.

The Red Riders scored in all four innings they batted in en route to a 15-1 victory against the Redskins via mercy rule in four-and-a-half innings Tuesday evening up at the Roberta “Birdie” DeFrancis Softball Field.

“It’s a good win,” Weir (18-7) head coach John Leary said. “I am glad we were able to play. We haven’t played since last Tuesday in the OVAC game. The weather did not cooperate. We have been able to practice, but we haven’t been able to play. Practice is not the same as playing. You don’t have the timing. You don’t see live pitching. I am glad we were able to play.

“I am glad Bella (Weber) got a chance to pitch today. We were fortunate with that. If you are able to make it to the state tournament, you are going to need a second pitcher at some point. Bella has not pitched as much I would have liked her to pitch this year due to how our games have gone. Eliza (Utt) was spot on for her three innings, and then Bella came in and threw strikes. Sometimes when you’re second pitcher comes in and they haven’t pitched for a while, they can’t find the plate, but Bella did not walk anybody. She threw strikes. I don’t like it when our pitchers walk batters. That is the worst thing you can do. I said to you before I don’t care if they hit it off the school, just don’t walk anybody. Walking people leads to too many big innings, but Bella came in and threw strikes.”

Utt pitched the first three innings to record the win for the Red Riders. Utt struck out six without walking a batter. Weber came on to pitch the final two innings. She struck out three while also not walking a batter.

Maggie Blackburn took the loss for Indian Creek (6-17). Blackburn did not record a strikeout while walking five in her 2 1/3 innings of work inside the circle. She was replaced by Tori Gross with one out in the bottom of the third. Gross pitched the final 1 2/3 innings striking out one while walking a pair.

“I give those girls credit, they threw strikes,” Leary said. “They threw strikes. They did walk some people, but they rebounded and got right back after it. They threw strikes.

“Bella relies on her off-speed stuff. Anyone who has seen her pitch knows that. Bella counts on the fielders to make plays. I give those girls credit. They were around the plate.

“It is tough when you lose two pitchers like Trinity and Penner. They were two dominate pitchers. Losing them creates a different aspect for your team.”

The girls from Jefferson County struck first with a run in the top of the first inning. Kylie Dray and Riley Sadler delivered back-to-back singles to give the Redskins a pair of baserunners. Then, Aziaih Wade reached on an error enabling Dray to come all the way around from second to score the game’s first run giving the visitors an early 1-0 lead. Sadler ended up on third base on the play while Ade made it safely to second, however, a strikeout ended the inning.

“They do have some girls who can hit the ball,” Leary said about the Redskins. “As they were working their way through the lineup, a couple of the girls had some hard-hit foul balls, and I had to adjust mentally on how I wanted to pitch to them. They have some big girls. They’re strong. They hit the ball well.”

Weir answered right back in the home half of the inning. Lila Boilegh reached on an error and took second on the play before moving up to third on a wild pitch. Eliza Utt brought the shortstop home with a single to left to knot the score at 1. Utt then stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a groundout by Zoey Spencer to give the hosts the lead at 2-1. Taviyana Cooley, who came in to run for Loganne Barton, who walked, ended up being stranded on third base thanks to a flyout.

The Red-and-Gold attempted to counter in the second. Gross singled with one out, and she advanced to second on an error on the play. Gross was ultimately stranded in scoring position thanks to two strikeouts.

The Red Riders extended their advantage in the bottom of the inning. Lexi Shockley walked to start the inning, and she was replaced on the bases by courtesy runner Gracie Trifonoff. Chelsea Devore also drew a walk to put two runners on base. The pair moved up on a groundout, and Trifonoff scored on a sacrifice fly by Boilegh to make the score, 3-1. The inning came to an end on a groundout to third.

The Red-and-Black broke the game open in their half of the third as they scored eight runs on six hits to increase their advantage to 10 runs.

Weber led off the inning with a single to right, and she moved up to second on a wild pitch. Barton then drew her second walk of the day, and Cooley once again came in to run for her on the basepaths. Spencer then singled to center scoring Weber to make it a 4-1 ballgame, and Cooley stopped at second. She then stole third and scored on a groundout by Illiona Kirlangitis giving the home team a 5-1 advantage.

Lexi Shockley was issued a free pass, and DeVore reached on an error plating Spencer making the score 6-1. Brynn Artman singled to load the bases, and Boilegh singled to left scoring Shockley and DeVore to give Weir an 8-1 lead. Utt then doubled to center scoring Artman increasing her team’s advantage to 9-1 as Boilegh advanced to third.

Weber followed with a groundout to score Boilegh making it a 10-1 ballgame before Barton plated Utt with a single to make the score, 11-1. Barton moved to second on an error on the play, and Cooley, who came in to run for the catcher for the third time, stole third before being stranded there thanks to a pop-up.

“The nicest thing is I think we only had one strikeout,” Leary said. “We put the ball in play. I am happy we were able to do that. We did a great job. In the postseason, you are going to have to put the ball in play. We put the ball in play today, we have decent team speed and we were able to make things happen. If we don’t put the ball in play, we don’t give ourselves a chance. We have to put the ball in play. If we strikeout a lot and don’t put the ball in play, we don’t give ourselves a chance. It was nice that we were able to put the ball in play today.”

The victors added to their advantage in the fourth. Kirlangitis led off the inning with a single to left and Shockley walked and Trifonoff came into the game to run for her. Kirlangitis scored on an error to make the score, 12-1. Boilegh drew a walk to load the bases, and Utt plated Trifonoff making the score 13-1. Next, Weber brought home Artman, who reached on the error, and Boilegh giving the girls from Hancock County a 15-1 advantage. Weber ended up on third on the play, however, she was stranded there thanks to a flyout.

Weber retired the Indian Creek side in order in the fifth to bring the game to an end.

Sadler tallied two singles in the game for the Redskins.

“We were real sloppy in the first,” Leary said. “We gave them a run. We had a bad throw and the ball got away. That is stuff we have to get out of our system. We can’t afford to have that stuff happen in the postseason. If we are sloppy, it is going to cost us, and it did early on. We were concerned about that. We came around and woke up, but we were a little sloppy early.”

Weir is scheduled to take on Beaver Local in the OVAC Class 4A Tournament Final at 6 p.m. Thursday up at Oak Glen.

“They have a dominated pitcher,” Leary said about the Beavers. “I watched the game before us in the OVACs, and I think she had 14 strikeouts. We scrimmaged them in the preseason. It was our only scrimmage. We did a decent job against her. We put the ball in play. Now, she has had a full season to find herself. She has gotten better. She is an over-powering pitcher. We can’t strikeout. We have to put the ball in play. We have to put the ball in play and make them make plays. If we strikeout 14 times, we won’t have a chance. We have to limit our strikeouts and put the ball in play.”

The Beavers are the No. 1 seed in the tournament while the Red Riders are the No. 2 seed.

“In our preseason scrimmage, their centerfielder hit a home run,” Leary said. “She’s a lefty. Their catcher had a streak of like five home runs in a row. They have power in their lineup. We are going to have to locate our pitches. Eliza is going to have to locate her pitches.

“On paper, it looks to be a low-scoring game, but you don’t know for sure until you get there and play. On paper, it looks to be a low-scoring game, and we are going to have to put the ball in play. Defensively, errors are going to be very big.”

Indian Creek is slated to play Weir at 5:30 p.m. Friday at home.

Weir 15, Indian Creek 1

Indian Creek 100 00 – 1 4 4

Weir 218 4X – 15 9 2

INDIAN CREEK (6-17): Blackburn LP (2 1/3IP, 0K, 5BB), Gross (1 2/3IP, 1K, 2BB) and G. Hollenbeck. Dray S; Sadler 2S; Gross S.

WEIR (18-7): Utt WP (3IP, 6K, 0BB), Weber (2IP, 3K, 0BB) and Barton. Boilegh S, 3RBI; Utt S, D, 3RBI; Weber 2S, 3RBI; Barton S, RBI; Spencer S, 2RBI; Kirlangitis S, RBI; DeVore RBI; Artman S.