“I think we hit up and down the lineup,” Wheeling Park said of his Patriots, seeded No. 7 in their bracket.

“Everybody hit the ball pretty hard. The pitcher wasn’t very fast, and we had to be patient. We sat back and hit the ball, and that was a good way to start. We had a nice practice this week, and we got to get ready to go to Morgantown tomorrow.”

The Patriots collected eight extra-base hits as a team vs. the Bulldogs, with three home runs amongst them. London Fankhouser popped two home runs, and added a single, to finish with a game-high five RBI. The sophomore also started the game, pitching the first two frames and striking out four.

Kylah Cunningham also homered Monday, adding a double to drive in three runs for Park. She scored four times, finishing the day 2-2 with two walks. Leadoff hitter Brenna Tipton also scored four times, going 3-4 with two singles and a triple.

Harmony Bittner and Kymber Heldreth both doubled, while Grace Tamburin tripled. Bittner and Tamburin also each singled to finish with two hits apiece.

Alivia West smacked two base hits and finished with four RBI. Mikaylah Alderman had two base hits and three RBI.

Bittner took over for Fankhouser in the third inning, pitching two frames of her own and striking out three. Alderman pitched the fifth.

Durkin said this year’s team has much more power than a typical softball squad.

“I think what ends up happening is when Brianna Tipton, she’s our leadoff hitter, she seems to set the tone, set the table all the time,” Durkin said. “And tonight the first run was scored– she singled, stole second, moved to third, scored a sacrifice fly.

“All the way up and down the lineup, when you go with Cunningham, Bittner, Alderman, Fankhauser, those four in a row, they all have power, and they’re going to hit the ball somewhere, you know. Then behind them, when you have Harris and Tamburin, they both hit for power. I think this year’s team has the most power we’ve ever had. In years past we were a faster team and we put bunts down, but I’ve never had a lineup that could, two through eight, all put the ball out of the park with not much effort. It’s kind of nice to have.”

Martinsburg briefly led after Emma Bowers produced an RBI base hit in the top of the first inning, but Wheeling Park snatched the advantage with a four-run effort in the bottom half. The Patriots plated an even dozen in the second inning to blow open the contest. After a scoreless third, Park tacked on six more in the fourth inning.

Monday made for the 11th game this season that Wheeling Park has reached double-digit runs, with their 22 runs standing as a season-high total. Durkin’s squad scored 21 vs. West Muskingum in April.

Park will hope to keep their bats hot as they visit Morgantown on Tuesday, with a 5:30 p.m. start time. The Patriots are 0-2 vs. the Mohigans this season, falling in one-run games both times.

“It was a nice way to start [the postseason],” Durkin said. “The last time we scored a lot of runs, next day we got shut out, so I’m not sure about that. But, yeah, I think the girls came to play. They were ready and they know what they have to do to move on in this to the state tournament. This was a game we were supposed to win and we did, convincingly.”