Staff photo / Brian Yauger Mathews pitcher Sydnie Nelson delivers during Thursday’s victory over Kidron Central Christian.

VIENNA — Going into this season, Mathews started on the ground level. Returning just one full-time starter at a new position and a part-time starter from last season, these new girls were going to have to learn fast.

They’ve grown significantly over the course of the season, but the tournament is a different beast. It was a slow start for the Mustangs, but a strong fifth inning helped earn the young Mathews group a much-needed tournament victory, topping Kidron Central Christian 13-3 on Thursday.

The Comets took an early lead in the first that was undone in Mathews’ second trip to the plate.

The Mustangs went back and forth with Kidron and were tied 2-2 until the fifth inning. Early on, Mathews struggled to find gaps at the plate, with hits landing in the glove of nearby Kidron players.

Mathews exploded in the fifth inning, however, tallying eight runs on the board.

Liz Rowan got things rolling for Mathews, scoring Sara Geilhard. The Mustangs went down the lineup, bookending the inning with a Geilhard triple that brought Molly Woodall and Callie Robinson home.

“I think (what made the difference was) just totally mentally getting into it and not being like 50/50,” Nicula said. “They locked in more when they were at the plate. I think the previous failures that they had, leading up to that inning, when we scored all those runs, I think they were a little bit embarrassed, and wanted to make something happen, knowing that they’re better than what they showed.”

Geilhard had three stolen bases in the victory.

Sydnie Nelson earned the win in the circle.

Thursday’s victory continues a long streak of postseason success for the Mustangs.

“This program hasn’t lost a sectional game in 35 years, so this would have been devastating, to say the least, at least for me,” Nicula said. “This is my alma mater, and I know the history of it, and we think that’s important for the kids. We told them, ‘You know, we haven’t had a losing season in over 21 years.’ Now we’re on the right side, and we want to stay there.”

The Mustangs (14-11) will wrap up a pair of regular-season league games on Friday and Saturday against Ashtabula St. John and Pymatuning Valley. That’ll serve as a tune-up for their next tournament matchup against Jackson-Milton in the district semifinals on Monday.

“They’re going to hit the ball, and they’re very capable at the plate,” Nicula said of the Blue Jays. “With our young pitching, we’re going to have to make sure we make every out that we get in the field. We can’t have too many errors or get out of control. We just need to come and put runs on the board, and we’ve done that this year. We’ve hit a lot of good pitching this year.”

ANOTHER NOTCH FOR NICULA

On Monday, Mathews coach Jim Nicula won his 300th career game at the helm of the program.

“It’s awesome,” Nicula said. “This is my heart and soul, and I put everything into it. It’s an honor for our program to get that because the kids over the last 16 years have gotten those 300 wins. I just kind of facilitate it and manage it and show them what to do and provide the opportunity for them with the knowledge, with our coaching staff, and the things that we do to try and get there.

“I’m really proud of the fact that we play top-notch competition. We don’t shy away from anybody, so to get 300 wins playing a lot of Division I and II schools from around the state that are really good, it feels good.”