Staff photo / Brian Yauger Chalker junior Tatum Hudak fires a pitch during Monday’s victory over Lowellville.

SOUTHINGTON — While they faced a bit of a scare early on, kept off the scoreboard for three innings, the Chalker Wildcats locked in and powered through their early slump, taking down Lowellville, 7-1, and punching the team’s ticket to another district final.

“(Rockets pitcher Morgan Lewis) threw a very nice game for them. She just mixed it up and kept us off-balance,” Wildcats coach Rich Hudak said. “It took us a little while to get it, get our bearings. Once we did, and we were patient at the plate and just kept working, the hits were going to drop. We had a couple nice hits that dropped out there and we kept the pressure on. That was a good, nice team and they pitched a very nice game.”

Chalker was scoreless for the first three innings, and scoring a pair in the bottom of the fourth, looked less composed than the team typically is. Lowellville’s lone run of the game came off a Wildcat throwing error.

Tatum Hudak’s double, which scored Riley Ashcraft, served as the catalyst that got Chalker on the board, tying the game at one run each. That woke the Wildcats up, who continued to add to their lead. Hudak scored soon after that same inning.

That following inning, Ashcraft hit a two-run home run to further extend the lead to 5-1 in favor of Chalker. It’s Ashcraft’s first at the high school level.

Hudak hopes this game reminds his team that in the tournament, anyone can get you.

“It’s good for us,” Hudak said. “When you get deeper in the tournament, everyone’s coming after you. They’re coming after you and you just gotta stay true with what you do and how you do it and adjust the game plan along the way. That’s what we did, that’s what we had to do, and it’s good for us that we had to. These are good games for us and it helps you grow as a team.”

Lowellville’s season ends at 7-8-1. Faced with a tough task, the Rockets went up against Chalker with a roster of just nine players.

“We improved so much throughout the season,” Rockets coach Carla Reseta said. “First game, we played Mineral Ridge and it was 15-3. Each game, we’ve just been improving. I think it speaks a lot of volume for my girls.”

With three seniors on the roster and some valuable playoff experience, Reseta hopes her girls are ready for next season.

“Just be ready to play,” she said.

After an earlier-than-expected exit from last season’s tournament following injuries to starting pitcher-catcher duo Tatum Hudak and Abby Grimm before the year began, the Wildcats aren’t taking anything for granted.

“At the beginning of the year, everyone has their goals. Everyone wants to get as far as they can into the postseasons,” coach Hudak said. “Yeah, that’s a goal for us, but for us, we wanted to stay healthy and stay healthy throughout after last year. We’re very excited about that, and we don’t take it for granted. I’m just super excited for the kids.”

Chalker (13-4) is set to face Ashtabula St. John in the district title game on Wednesday. While a league opponent for the Wildcats, this will be their first meeting this season due to rain-outs.

The district title game is set for Wednesday at the Jefferson Little League Complex.