By ARNE GREEN

Salina Journal

The way the Salina South Cougars are playing, punching their ticket to a seventh straight state tournament was a mere formality.

The Cougars backed two sterling pitching performances by scoring in every inning on the way to a pair of run-rule shutouts Tuesday in their Class 5A softball regional at the South diamonds.

After Brittanie Gardner tossed a four-inning no-hitter in a 15-0 first-round victory over Salina Central, Sarah Wedel held Hutchinson to three hits over five innings in the championship game as the Cougars prevailed, 10-0.

"It was a very good day," said South coach Kenny Waldman, whose Cougars improved to 19-3 with the two shutouts. "Our pitching was good and our defense was good.

"The only thing that wasn't very good was our small ball, with the bunts, but we came back and got big hits, so it didn't matter."

The Cougars cranked out 24 hits in the two games -- four for extra bases. Maddison Resley hit a two-run homer over the fence in right against Hutch (9-13).

"We hit a lot of gaps," Waldman said. "We had some nice singles and some good extra-base hits, too."

Nobody was more productive than leadoff hitter Ashley Newman, who had three hits, drove in three runs and scored three times against Central, then drove in three more runs and scored once on a hit and a bases-loaded walk in the championship game.

"I was really excited," said Newman, a sophomore, who also was flawless at shortstop in the two games. "It's good to get hits early in the lineup because that gets the rest of the team pumped up and carries through the rest of the game."

Tia Irwin also had a big day at the plate, with two hits -- including a triple -- two runs and two RBI against Central, then two hits a run and an RBI in the Hutch game. Her first-inning double in the final led to the Cougars' first run.

Gardner made quick work of Central (0-20) in the first round, facing just one over the minimum -- a walk to Meg Schwartz in the first inning -- while striking out five. The Cougars broke the game open with a seven-run third inning.

"Both our pitchers threw great," Waldman said. "It's just amazing how, year after year, they really step it up in the postseason."

Wedel was just as dominant against Hutch, allowing just one runner to reach third base. Salthawk pitcher Torey Lyman reached second on a pair of errors in the fourth inning and took third on a ground out, but Wedel struck out the next two to get out of the inning.

"My defense played really well," said Wedel, who scattered three hits while striking out seven Hutch batters and walking just one. "This was my first time not starting the first game, so that was kind of different, but I felt strong the whole way through."

The Cougars got a run in the first inning on Irwin's double and Wedel's RBI single and added four more in the second to take control.

"We're playing at the top of our game right now," Wedel said. "From the Goddard game on, we've played our style of softball.

"Our intensity has been up and everybody is focused."

Hutchinson 3, McPherson 1

Tara Esquerra's two-run double in the sixth inning was the different in Hutchinson's first-round victory over McPherson.

Erin Dirks had a sacrifice fly for the Salthawks to break a scoreless tie in the fifth inning, and McPherson (10-11) got its lone run on a Riley Campbell sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth.

Lyman threw a two-hitter for Hutch.

* Sports writer Arne Green can be reached at 822-1408, or by e-mail at agreen@salina.com