The last local high school spring sports team still standing is the Waterloo High School softball squad, which will host a sectional final this Friday.

The Bulldogs (26-6) advanced to the Class 3A Waterloo Sectional by virtue of wins last week at the Triad Regional. 

Last Tuesday, Waterloo won 7-1 over Centralia to begin its postseason. Mia Miller, a recent graduate who has been stellar in the pitching circle all season, struck out 14 and did not issue a walk. She also collected two hits and drove in a run. 

Ava Brown added a hit and two RBIs for Waterloo. 

On Friday, the Bulldogs faced host Triad in the regional final. The result was a 6-5 victory for Waterloo. 

The score was tied 5-5 after five innings, but the ‘Dogs scored a run in the top of the sixth inning to take the slim lead. Miller was able to close it out from there. 

Miller struck out eight and collected another two hits at the plate. Mallory Thompson had a double and two RBIs. Kate Lindhorst had two hits and an RBI.

The win advanced the Bulldogs to their own sectional, where they faced Marion on Tuesday. Waterloo picked up an 8-3 victory to advance to Friday’s final, where they will face a 31-win Freeburg squad.

The Bulldogs plated single runs in each of the first three innings to go up 3-0. A two-run homer in the third put Marion down just 3-2, but Waterloo tacked on more runs late to pick up the win. 

Game time for the sectional final on Friday is 4 p.m.

Waterloo faced Freeburg on April 13, falling 4-0. Freeburg pitcher Samantha Roulanaitis struck out 17 and allowed only two hits in that contest.

Entering Tuesday’s game, Miller was 16-4 on the season as a pitcher with a 1.33 ERA and 229 strikeouts in 126 and one-third innings.

At the plate, she was hitting .322.

The top hitters this season for the Bulldogs have been Raelyn Melching (.423, eight home runs, 42 RBIs), Samantha Juelfs (.415, 14 doubles, 23 RBIs, 28 runs), Maddie Gummersheimer (.404) and Thompson (.398, 14 doubles, 29 runs).

The winner of Friday’s sectional championship advances to the Decatur Supersectional to be played at Millikin University on Monday afternoon for a berth in next weekend’s state tournament.