Photo by Seth Staskey Harrison Central second baseman Olivia Tonkovich (left) and rightfielder Alina Williams, who made the catch, converge in shallow right field during Thursday’s Division III sectional tournament game against Union Local.

CADIZ — There were no celebrations on the Harrison Central softball diamond Thursday afternoon.

Quite simply, the Huskies’ 15-5 victory in six innings against short-handed Union Local in a Division III sectional co-final was just another step in the journey that they hope goes on for a few more weeks.

“Pretty good all-around effort,” Harrison Central head coach Darrin Young said. “I think our confidence really grew as the game went along and we had several girls who really stepped up.”

Next up for the Huskies is a date with Tusky Valley, which dispatched Cambridge, 10-3, in the Eastern District semifinal on Monday at Conotton Valley.

“It’s always great to go to the next step, but we don’t really think about that,” Young said. “We’ll start preparing for (Tusky Valley), but it’s great to be moving on.”

Before the Huskies could even begin to remotely think about the district they had to deal with a resilient Jets squad, which was missing several every-day players due to a senior trip to Florida. Even without those contributors, Union Local came ready to play and jumped on the Huskies for two runs in the top of the first.

“We told the girls for two days that Union Local wasn’t going to lie down because they were short a few players,” Young said. “They jumped on us, and I think we had some nerves.”

Harrison Central responded to the Jets’ early uprising with a four spot of its own, but again the Jets weren’t done. Sophomore Lauren Miller came up with a two-run single in the third to cap a three-run inning that put the Jets back on top, 5-4.

From there, however, Harrison Central ace Tristin Kovarik settled in. Kovarik retired the next two hitters to end the third and then recorded three consecutive perfect innings.

With Kovarik doing her part in the circle, the Huskies offense kept on coming against Jets’ spot starter Breanna Barbe, who was making just her second varsity start of the season.

Harrison regained the lead in the bottom of the third with two runs and then never looked back. Taking advantage of 12 walks, five hit batsmen and 13 hits, the Huskies scored in every inning except the second.

Senior Sarah Touville, who had a two-run triple, in the first, drove in her third run of the day with a single in the third. Junior Alina Williams had a RBI single in the fourth. Sophomore Isabel Yeager singled home a run in fifth, which followed a run that scored on a wild pitch.

In the sixth, the Huskies really exploded. The first six hitters of the inning all reached and scored. Jenna Young, who began the uprising with a triple, capped it by drawing a bases-loaded walk, which brought home the final run.

In between, Touville singled home another run, Kovarik helped her own cause with a RBI hit, freshman Olivia Tonkovich had a run-scoring hit and Maddy Butler drove in a run with a fielder’s choice in which no out was recorded.

“Walks, errors, untimely mistakes and hitting the ball right at people have been our story,” UL head coach Melissa Lahna said. “We have to make plays. I tip my hat to our seniors because they played hard, but we’ll come back (in 2023) ready to go.”

Union Local received a triple and a single from junior Emily Kellaway, while Emma Yager had a RBI double and a single.