Andrew Grimm NO-HITTER — Madonna pitcher Peyton Conley fires against Ritchie County in regional action on Wednesday. Conley tossed a no-hitter for the Blue Dons to put them in the regional final.

The Madonna sophomore went from battling an illness on Tuesday night to spinning a no-hitter in the circle for the Blue Dons, guiding Madonna to a 2-0 victory over Ritchie County at Starvaggi Park and putting the Dons one win away from a trip to the state tournament.

She struck out seven batters and was a walk in the sixth inning away from a perfect game. The seven punch outs also put her past the 100 mark for the season. Conley also had two hits at the plate, including a triple.

“Peyton didn’t feel well last night and she came out today and pulled a Michael Jordan on us,” Madonna head coach Jason Backel said. “Every pitch I asked for she threw, she pounded the strike zone. That was one of the best games she’s pitched all season. A no-hitter in a tournament game against a good team that can put up some runs, wow, just a great performance. That was fantastic; she gave us exactly what we needed.

“That’s one of the biggest wins for Madonna softball in a long time.”

Andrew Grimm MILESTONE — Madonna players celebrate with pitcher Peyton Conley after she passed 100 strikeouts for the season in Wednesday's regional win.

Senior Kendal Ryan, Madonna’s other pitcher who has split time with Conley the last two seasons to give Backel a one-two punch in the circle, made quite the impact as well. The Bethany College commit crushed a one-out double in the bottom of the first, driving in Conley and Madi Owens for a 2-0 lead, which ended up being the only runs scored in the game. Ryan had another double later in the game and finished with half of Madonna’s six hits.

“Kendal had been struggling a little bit at the plate and she came up with a huge hit in the first inning. She pounded that ball to right center and had another nice hit later in the game,” Backel said. “She’s a team player; she’s one of our senior leaders. She came up big and found a way to help us win. She basically saved our program four years ago because we didn’t have a pitcher and she pitched every game her freshman and sophomore years and then she got some help. Both of them have won about 10 games for us this year, today we went with Peyton and Kendal found another way to contribute, that’s what team players do. I gave a game ball to both of them.

“It was a great team win. We played errorless defense, which at this level is a loss to ask. The girls played great defense. We squeezed out a couple runs and it was enough. Ritchie County has a great pitcher, I’ve been saying for a couple days I had a feeling it was going to be a low scoring game and it was.”

Madonna (21-5) is now in the driver’s seat for a trip to Charleston. They advance to the Class A, Region 1 Bracket 2 final and need just one more victory to advance to the state tournament, weather permitting they may have the chance to punch that ticket on Saturday.

Ritchie County (16-9) will play the winner of Trinity Christian, who Madonna beat in the opening round, and Clay-Battelle, in an elimination game.

Andrew Grimm PLAY MADE — Madonna second baseman Kaleigh Gamble makes a play during Wedneday's game.

The Cee-Bees and Warriors were rained out Wednesday, so they will play today and the winner plays Ritchie County on Friday. The winner of that game comes back to Madonna on Saturday, pending any further delays.

Ritchie County starter Rocklyn Marcum hurled a strong game of her own, striking out nine and walking one in six innings of work. The junior who has more than 500 strikeouts in her career put up zeroes after the first inning, but the Rebels offense was not able to give her any help.

WVSSAC Class A Tournament

Region 1 semifinals

At Starvaggi Park

Andrew Grimm IN THE FIELD — Madonna shortstop Madi Owens turns a play against Ritchie County.

No. 2 Madonna 2, No. 3 Ritchie County 0

RC 0-0-0 0-0-0 0 — 0 0 0

M 2-0-0 0-0-0 x — 2 6 0

RITCHIE COUNTY (16-9): Marcum (LP, 6IP, 2R, 2ER, 6H, 9K, 1BB) and Hardbarger.

MADONNA (21-5): Conley (WP, CG, 0R, 0H, 7K, 1BB) and Foresha. Conley T, S; Owens S; Ryan 2D, S, 2RBIs.