GREENCASTLE — The offense was clicking on all cylinders, and Mackenzie Wingert was grateful.

Greencastle-Antrim rapped out 14 hits in just four innings and Wingert pitched four solid innings as the Blue Devils opened the District 3 Class 5A softball tournament with a solid 13-1 victory over Hershey in a home game Monday afternoon.

Caroline Logsdon

“We struggled last week against Chambersburg (a 2-0 loss), so I challenged them today that we needed to start hitting,” G-A coach Mark DeCarli said.

Wingert said, “The bats weren’t working as well last week, but today they were really on. It made it nice for me.”

The No. 5 seed Blue Devils (16-5) will play in the quarterfinals on Thursday at No. 4 seed Mechanicsburg (17-4) at 4:30 in a quarterfinal. The Wildcats drubbed Susquehannock 11-1 on Monday.

Hershey (12-8) opened the scoring in the top of the first when McKinley Ebert singled through the shortstop hole and ran home when Grace O’Connor ripped a double to the fence in left-center.

However, whatever momentum the Trojans had gained was quickly doused when Greencastle brought home five runs in the bottom of the inning off Maddie Bowe.

DeCarli said, “As a coach, you see them score a run, and you take a big gulp. But then we come right back with five runs and we could breathe a little easier. Those five runs gave us some cushion.”

With one out, Caroline Logsdon singled, Meadow Gambacurta singled and Malayla Jerin smacked a double to left-center to score both runners. After an out, Annika Gaus walked and Kaidyn Zimmerman lined a base hit to left for an RBI. Bailey Leckron then unloaded a double to the fence in left to chase in two more runs.

Kaidyn Zimmerman

“Getting those five runs was a big deal,” said Logsdon, who was 3-for-3 with 3 runs scored and 3 stolen bases. “The whole lineup did well and we even got to play some subs today.”

In the second inning, Zhen Reuter walked and stole second, Logsdon bunted for a hit and Reuter came home on a grounder by Gambacurta. Jerin then belted another double to make it 7-1.

The Blue Devils got after it again in the third, this time all coming after the first two batters made outs. Alexis Jones singled to left, Reuter grounded one up the middle for a hit and Logsdon singled to bring in a run. After a Logsdon steal, Gambacurta came through with a two-run base hit.

Hershey changed pitchers for the fourth inning, bringing in Chloe Maitrejean, but she couldn’t stop the offense, either.

Kylie Kern led off with a single, Gaus walked and Zimmerman produced her second RBI base hit. Eventually, pinch-hitter Aliyah Masser drilled a single up the middle to score the final two runs.

Wingert ended her game with four innings pitched, five hits, no walks and three strikeouts. Freshman Paiton Gordon pitched the fifth, putting the Trojans down 1-2-3.

“Once Wingert got her pitches moving, she did really well,” DeCarli said.

Wingert said, “Pitching in a couple of games, especially against a team like Chambersburg, helped me get ready for this. My changeup was working well today — they missed on a lot of them.”

Greencastle’s offense did not.