BOURBON – For the third straight year, Triton’s softball team will be opening summer vacation with bonus ball. After winning its third straight sectional title last week, the Trojans are prepping for a 7 p.m. Tuesday night showdown with South Central Union Mills in a regional rematch at Keyser Field.

Triton (20-10) didn’t make life easy for itself in what most considered a very winnable Class 1-A No. 52 sectional quad. Playing a three-win Elkhart Christian Academy team in round one, Triton found itself down 5-1 before scoring the game’s final 14 runs to put away the Academy. Leading 7-1 in the seventh inning against Bethany Christian in the final – a team Triton dimed the week before – Bethany eventually brought the go-ahead run to the plate before Triton slithered out with a 7-6 win.

All that is just a memory, though, as scores are just formalities in the state tournament. It’s win and move on, according to head coach Steve McBride.

“We figured out a way to win the ballgame, and that’s what matters in the tournament,” McBride said. “We didn’t make it easy on ourselves. But we don’t get style points, we need wins to stay alive.”

The offense for Triton, which has been potent for the program in this run of success in recent years, has continued to carry the club. The Trojans have eight of its nine starters batting over .300, six of which are over .340. In the two games of the sectional, Triton pounded out 29 combined hits to go with its 22 runs.

In the tournament alone, Triton has several players swinging white-hot bats. Lexee Lemler has been electric, driving in five runs including a big homer in the Bethany game. Taytum Hargrave at the top of the order has been almost impossible to get out, going 6-for-9 with six runs scored. Kayla Kreft drove in five in the ECA game and Heather Stichter has given Triton a huge lift at the bottom of the order, collecting three hits overall and driving in a pair in the championship game.

“We’ve had great contributions all over our lineup,” McBride said. “We don’t have just two or three kids who can get the job done. We have an entire lineup that I trust. That’s what great about this team.”

For the first two regional appearances, Triton leaned upon the arm of Mallorie Jennings. While Jennings was present at the sectional games this season, the Manchester University pitcher is wearing black and not blue. However, another Jennings sister, freshman Courtney, has joined senior Brycelyn Garbison to form a formidable one-two punch in the circle.

Garbison has gotten the call to start both tourney games this season, picking up the win in the sectional championship while Jennings was credited the win in the ECA game coming in relief of Garbison. The senior has only allowed five earned of the 10 runs on her account in the two appearances, as the one problem area McBride has pointed out in the postseason – defense – needs to shore up against a South Central team that is happy to play big ball or small ball.

“We’ve had that bugaboo defensively,” McBride started, speaking about the near-disaster in the seventh against Bethany, “where we could have gotten out of that thing. We’re going to have to play better than this. But we got out of it. We’re happy.”

South Central comes in at 21-7 overall and winners of the LaCrosse Sectional after defeating the hosts, 5-1, in the championship. The Satellites finished the regular season ranked No. 14 in the 1-A poll, Triton ranked No. 8. Triton defeated South Central in the 2014 regional, 4-0, in Union Mills. The winner will face either No. 2 and defending state champion North Miami or Westville, playing in the opposite regional, at the Clinton Prairie Semi-state this Saturday at 11 a.m.