HARRISON CENTRAL shortstop Sarah Touville tags out Buckeye Local’s Demetria Christian as she tried to steal second base Saturday afternoon at the Cravat Coal’s Cadiz Girls Softball Complex high atop Sally Buffalo Park. The Huskies won, 17-0.

CADIZ — Harrison Central looked in midseason form Saturday despite not having taken the field in two years. Unfortunately, Buckeye Local didn’t at the Cravat Coal’s Cadiz Girls Softball Complex high atop Sally Buffalo Park .

The end result: Huskies 17, Panthers 0, 4¢ innings.

Harrison Central collected 13 hits while junior Tristen Kovarik tossed a two-hitter, struck out four and escaped an early jam.

“It was tight to start but we finally busted loose there in the third,” Harrison Central head coach Darrin Young said. “We’re capable of doing that on any given night. From our leadoff hitter to our No. 9 hitter, everyone can hit the ball.”

The Panthers, playing for the first time under second-year head coach Drew Case, had runners on second and third in their second at-bat, only to fail in pushing at least one of them across home plate.

Aliana Runevich, the Huskies No. 9 hitter, drove in Jenna Young with a two-out single in the bottom of the second for the only run Kovarik would need. Lefthanded hitter Maddie Butler sent a blast to left that cleared the fence, and the bases, for a 3-0 advantage.

“That surprised me,” Young said Butler’s opposite-field roundtripper. “I didn’t know she had that kind of power going the other way.”

Demetria Christian’s liner kicked off Butler’s glove for a single leading off the top of the third. However, she was thrown out trying to steal second by strong-armed Harrison Central catcher Lizzy Clelland. Rightfielder Abby Jozwiak made a nice running catch to end the top of the third.

That web gem seemed to spark the Huskies offense as it sent 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the third, with six of them recording base hits and eight of them crossing the plate for a 11-0 lead.

Immediately after Buckeye Local elected to intentionally walk Clelland to load the bases despite only one pitch (a ball) being thrown to her, Young called for his daughter, Jenna, to lay down a suicide-squeeze bunt, which she did to perfection as Sarah Touville raced home to make it 4-0. Lexi Ferguson followed with a two-run single through the infield as the lead ballooned to 6-0. Runevich knocked in a run and Butler upped the count to 8-0 when she legged out an infield roller to third. Two runners crossed on errors and Touville scored for the second time in the inning when Danyel Beadling’s infield popup dropped for an 11-0 reading.

“Jenna’s bunt couldn’t have been more perfect. About 8-foot down to the left side about halfway between the pitcher and third baseman,” Young said of his daughter’s well-placed bunt. “They never expected that after intentionally walking Lizzy, but Jenna is the best bunter we’ve got on the team.”

Ferguson added another two-run base hit to highlight a six-run fourth. Three runs scored via wild pitches/passed balls and another on an error.

Touville and Runevich each singled twice and doubled, with Runevich driving in two and just missing a home run in the fourth when her bullet to right hit off the fence.

The Panthers let a golden scoring chance slip by in the second when Isabella Hepburn sent a shot to the leftfield corner for a leadoff double. Josey Meddles bunted her to third. Kovarik recorded a strikeout for out No. 2 before walking Kaydence Kinyo, who took second on a passed ball. Kovarik then induced Makayla Higgins to popup to her to snuff out the threat.

Kovarik retired seven Panthers in a row from the third through fifth innings before hitting Higgins with a bouncing pitch with two outs in the fifth.

“That was Tristen’s first varsity start and win. She had a great effort for us today,” coach Young said. “She’s not going to blow hitters away, but if she can throw strikes and mix her pitches up, we’ve got a good defense behind her.”

“Darrin’s always got great hitters up here and we’re trying to figure out our pitching staff,” Case said. “We’ve got three girls battling right now. We need to see who is going to separate themselves from the others..

“To be honest, I never thought in a million years the score would be 17-0,” he admitted. “We’ve still got some growing to do. I’m only playing one senior, so we’re going to grow. We’ve got 23 more games after this.”

The same two teams are scheduled to meet Monday in Connorville at 5 p.m.