“Usually, our big catalyst has been the first inning,” Wheeling Central head coach Buck Davidson said. “We had a good first inning, and I think the girls just kept building on that, and we finally started hitting the ball, team-wise, everybody on the team started hitting it instead of just one or two girls.”

Scoring four runs in the first frame, the Maroon Knights kept up their offensive attack Wednesday in a 16-1 victory over the Magnolia Blue Eagles on a windy day at the JB Chambers I-470 Sports Complex. With the win, Central moves on to face St. Marys in the WVSSAC Class A Region 1 playoff, while Magnolia will face the winner of Cameron vs. Valley in a postseason elimination game.

Maddie Miehle hit an RBI single and Sydney Hupp rocked a three-run double in the first inning, and in the second, Berklee Heller and Seneca Heller each had one-run singles, while Morgan Miehle hit a sacrifice fly.

The biggest scoring outburst for Central, though, came in the third inning, where they received their biggest swing of the game from Morgan Miehle, who blasted a three-run home run in the frame.

It was a long time coming for the Knights.

“Kind of ironic, I was telling the outfield- the wind is blowing in, we can play in a little bit– and they’re hitting blasts,” Magnolia head coach Danny Anderson said of Central’s bats. “And the first two innings they hit three to the warning track, and then they ended up with a home run.

So the ball carried well for them, but they were hitting it hard.”

“Bottom line, it came down to they hit the ball hard, and a lot of times they hit the ball where we weren’t. And when we did get there, we could get a glove on it, but we just couldn’t make a play.”

All-told, Central scored nine in the third inning.

Morgan Miehle finished with four RBI, Maddie Miehle and Sydney Hupp had three, and Seneca Heller and Berklee Heller both knocked in two. Hupp, Maddie Miehle, Berklee Heller, Erin Maxwell and Olivia Kiaski each hit doubles for Central, who had 16 hits as a team.

Kiaski also went the distance inside the circle, striking out six while holding Magnolia to three hits.

Jessa Anderson and Bella Sockman each hit singles while Olivia Hohman hit a double for the Blue Eagles.

“We’ll play the winner of Valley and Cameron,” Anderson said of his team’s next steps. “That’s an elimination game. Kind of anticipating playing Cameron, but you just never know when playoff time rolls around. If we play Cameron, it’ll be at Cameron. If we play Valley, it’ll be at our place. So, obviously I’m kind of hoping we play Valley because we’ll be at home. I won’t have to travel.”

Wheeling Central and St. Marys have been frequent playoff opponents in recent years. Davidson is expecting a good matchup.

“We played them once during the regular season,” Davidson said of St. Marys. “I think we beat them 3-1. They played a good game. We didn’t hit too well, but if from here on out if we hit the ball and keep our pitching and our defense down, we’ll be alright.”

Central and St. Marys play Thursday at 5 p.m. at the same I-470 Sports Complex.