Staff photo / Brian Yauger Mathews junior Olivia Matheny slides into home during the first inning of Wednesday’s game. Matheny had a 12-strikeout effort in the circle as well.

BEREA — The Mathews Mustangs are on their way to another regional final.

In a 7-1 victory over St. Joseph Central Catholic, the Mustangs put themselves in position to represent Northeast Ohio at the state level.

“It was a great defensive effort, by our pitching, catching and defense for the most part on a really windy day,” Mathews coach Jim Nicula said. “We did enough offensively, but we’ve got to be better on Friday, way better on Friday offensively. They missed some opportunities and didn’t tighten things up well, but I’m confident we will. It’s hard when you’re playing an underdog and they know they’re the underdog and your kids know they’re the underdog. But they got the win, that’s all that matters. We won and we get to play again on Friday.”

Things got started early for the Mustangs with junior Kennedy Newsome knocking home both Mia Delgarbino and Olivia Matheny in the top of the first.

The same pair rounded the bases again in the third with a Maddy Hufford double.

Mathews scored in pairs with six of their seven runs on the afternoon. Part of that can be attributed to the team’s acumen on the basepaths. A wild pitch or passed ball by the Crimson Streaks usually led to an advanced baserunner, giving the Mustangs prime opportunities to send runners home.

“We had some production today,” Nicula said. “Allie Ramsey, our No. 9 batter, had the hit that broke things open and gave us some breathing space (in the sixth inning). It’s a little bit more of a hot day, you want to get as big of a run spread as you can. The top of the order, again, they make things happen. Whether it’s hitting the ball really well, or getting on base, because they really didn’t collectively hit well at the front. But we still got on base and made things happen whether it was a drop or an error, whatever. They’re great baserunners (which helps).”

Each of Ramsey, Newsome, and Hufford finished with a pair of RBIs.

In the circle, Matheny sat 12, and recorded an RBI at the plate which scored Delgarbino in the seventh.

Mathews will meet up with Canton Central Catholic in the regional final on Friday. The Crusaders took down Mogadore in their regional semifinal tilt earlier in the day.

“Their offense is extremely good and they hit the ball really well,” Nicula said. “They’re strong defensively. Those are their two strengths. Their pitching is good enough with the defense they have behind them, but we’ve got to be ready to play defense. (Matheny) is going to get (the start) or Ashia (Pate) will get it, I haven’t decided, and I’m sure they’re going to get their share of successes with strikeouts. But I think there’s going to be a lot more balls put into play Friday than there were today.”

Knowing how potent Canton Central Catholic is at the plate, Nicula wants to see a more active offense from his girls on Friday to match.

“We need more square ups and more line drives,” Nicula said. “We told them today how we’ve got a wind coming in at about 15 to 30 miles an hour, you can’t put the ball up in the air. Stay back on the ball and hit ropes, and we didn’t. We got out on the front foot and got too far out ahead of our swing. We probably had a million flyballs today. We got lucky on that because the kids dropped a few. We need to hit the gaps and we’ve got to get the ball on the ground and create opportunities. We need to square up on the ball more and get more line drives.”

First pitch is set for 5 p.m. at the Roehm Athletic Complex in Berea.

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