SIOUX FALLS — Sioux Falls Washington will face a familiar face in a familiar place.

No. 3 Sioux Falls Washington toppled No. 6 Rapid City Stevens, 10-3, to close out the first day of the 2026 Class AA state softball tournament at Bowden Field.

The Warriors, powered by a complete game on the mound by junior pitcher Madelyn Mescher, shutout the Raiders through the first five innings of the game while gaining an 8-0 lead to control the win.

“We’ve been preparing all week, working hard during practice and just trusting my defense,” Mescher said. “They did a great job and I always knew they had my back.”

After a scoreless inning defensively, Mescher sparked the Warriors offense early with a towering home run over the centerfield fence. Two batters later, Natalie Thomspon’s RBI-double pushed the lead to 3-0 in the opening frame.

“That felt amazing. I just trusted my practice, we’ve been hitting hard all week,” Mescher said of her home run. “Swing felt good, hunted my pitch and it went over.”

“It was great that she came in with that two-run home run in the first inning, that just sets the tone for the game,” said Washington coach Kim Bazata of Mescher’s homer. “That was great to see, because sometimes we have problems scoring runs early so if we can get those runs early, that’s great for us.”

A Stevens throwing error in the third inning plated another Washington run before the Warriors broke the game open in the fifth inning.

Josie Biteler’s bases-loaded triple scored the first three runs of a four-run fifth inning to break the game open in favor of the Warriors.

“That opened the gate for us and that was huge,” Bazata said. “She got done, she goes ‘I felt like I chopped it’. I said it doesn’t matter, it scored three runs. That’s all I care about”

Mescher, who threw just 105 pitches (78 strikes) in the win, found herself in a jam in the sixth inning. A Larson-Dike drew a bases-loaded walk to score the first Raider run of the game.

On the sweltering turf at Bowden Field, Bazata said it was important to take mound visits allowing Mescher to catch a break during the later innings.

“The big thing was to go out there and give them a break and then talk about ‘Hey we got this, where are we going’, and asking her what pitch do we feel comfortable with,” Bazata said. “What’s working well, what do you want to throw again. But mostly just to give her a break and break up the inning, and kind of break up their streak too.”

After a mound visit Mescher got out of the jam, while the offense scored two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to push the lead to 10-1.

Mescher gave up two more runs in the seventh, but the comeback was too high of a hill to climb for the Raiders.

“They’re bats came around at the end because they’re a quality hitting team,” Bazata said of Rapid City Stevens. “They’re coming up through their third, fourth times in the order so it was huge that we had those runs so Maddy could kind of relax out there.”

In seven innings pitched, Mescher allowed just three runs on 11 hits and one walk, striking out two while batting 1-for-2 with a two-run homer and a hit-by-pitch. But her efficiency on the bump through the first five innings made the biggest difference in Thursday’s win.

“She got us outs, that ‘s what we need,” Bazata said. “I don’t care how she gets us outs, I just want her to get us outs. She did a great job doing that, and it’s tough at the end of the year, everyone’s got a little bit of extra adrenaline going in them and everyone is out for blood.”

Biteler added two hits, including a three-RBI-triple, Thompson tallied two RBIs on one hit while Kjerstin Kyte and Aubrey Chavez each had two hits and an RBI in the win.

For Stevens, Macy Muth suffered the loss in five innings, allowing eight runs one eight hits and a walk, striking out three.

Muth and Joslyn Thompson each had two hits while Bristol Mehrer and Kara Cox both tallied two hits and an RBI in the loss.

Washington will now face Harrisburg in the state semifinals for the third-consecutive season at 4 p.m. Friday at Bowden Field.

Harrisburg has beaten the Warriors in both matchups this season.

“Harrisburg is a great team,” Mescher said. “Again just trusting our training, we have each other's backs out there.”

“We’ve played them tough both times, I think we led through five or six innings both times so we just have to finish the game,” Bazata added. “They have a really tough batting order that we have to keep tame and we have to score more runs this time.”