Staff photo / Brian Yauger. Western Reserve’s Katie Byers hurls a pitch to home plate during Monday’s 6-1 victory over Mineral Ridge.

MINERAL RIDGE — Setting the tone early is crucial in league games.

Western Reserve did just that. With a pair of first-inning runs, the Blue Devils established a lead they wouldn’t yield, taking down Mineral Ridge, 6-1.

“This was a huge one,” Blue Devils coach Katie Serensky said. “We were definitely not knowing exactly what we were coming into tonight. We just knew that we had to jump on top of them immediately. That’s exactly what we did. We knew that’s all we had to do.

“(Those two first-inning runs) were huge. That’s what I told them. We just had to come in and set that tone from the get-go, and we would be good, and that’s exactly what happened.”

Part of that comes from the fact that Western Reserve was ready for this game. The Rams are an opponent they’ve been eager to get a crack at, and they got that chance Monday.

“They’ve been fired up for this game,” Serensky said. “There’s been a lot of talk going around, so I mean, this was definitely a big game that they wanted and they came out and they did exactly what they had to do.”

That same feeling extends toward the postseason, which will be here in just a few short days. Western Reserve found itself on the wrong end of their district championship matchup against Chalker, and would like to flip the script and make the program’s first regional game since 2015.

“We’ve got to keep playing ball like we’re playing right now,” Serensky said. “We’ve got to keep our bats going just like we are. Just lots of focus, lots of discipline, especially at the plate, we’ve got to get a lot of discipline up there. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing and keep learning day by day.”

It’s a very similar story to the Rams, who are looking to cement themselves as a program like Reserve or rival McDonald. They’ve taken some steps this year, but a successful tournament would help that goal.

“I think we’re making a name for ourselves,” Mineral Ridge co-head coach Joe Merolillo said. “We’re getting a little respect from other teams and from last year, a big difference in this game. Last year, they kind of blew us out a little bit there. McDonald blew us out in the first game, but we came back fighting the next game and that’s I think the biggest difference with this team. They understand their talent, sometimes they just get ahead of themselves and make costly mistakes.”

That’s what sank the Rams on Monday — inopportune mistakes.

“Our recipe for winning is playing good defense,” co-head coach Will Sandy said. “We don’t have overpowering pitching, so if we play good defense and get a few timely hits, we’re usually in the game or winning the game and we just didn’t do that today.”

There’s a rematch today as Western Reserve plays host to the Rams.

The Blue Devils don’t want another series split like they had with McDonald earlier in the season.

For today’s contest, they want to go in with the same approach that worked well against the Rams on Monday.

“We’ve got to come out just like we did today,” Serensky said. “Fired up, ready to go. We’ve got to jump on them. That first thing we got to put runs on the board and as soon as we do that, we’ll be golden.”

Have an interesting story? Contact Brian Yauger by email at byauger@tribtoday.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @_brianyauger.