Silverdale Baptist Academy meant business Monday.
Playing at home again against the same program that ended its high school softball season a year ago, Silverdale left no doubt which was the better team this year with a resounding 15-0 five-inning victory over Sale Creek in a Region 3-A semifinal.
SBA (35-3) will host Marion County at 5 p.m. Wednesday in the region final.
The Lady Seahawks started things with a four-run first inning Monday and tacked on seven more in the second. Taylor Moran, who finished with five RBIs, hit a three-run homer in the big inning. Savannah Turner had two hits that inning, the second a three-run double.
Silverdale coach Tim Couch said his team's primary focus at Saturday's practice was hitting - and it showed.
"The other thing is we've got some good players," Couch said. "They adjusted. Hitting is contagious. That's what happened."
Lindsey Newell and winning pitcher Emily Harkleroad each had three of the Lady Seahawks' 16 hits. Harkleroad doubled twice and Newell had one double.
"Everything we threw up there they hit," said Sale Creek (25-17) coach Clifford Kirk. "Some of the pitches were good pitches, according to the umpire."
Harkleroad ended up pitching a two-hitter with no walks and two strikeouts.
"Anytime you give Emily a challenge, she's up for it," Couch said. "She's been waiting on this all year."
The only work SBA's outfield had to do was field the hits - Mikah McCombs' single in the first and Kristen Sharp's double in the fifth.
"They're a very good team. We knew that," said Kirk, whose team loses four seniors but has one junior, 10 freshmen and three eighth-graders returning. "We're young and inexperienced, and it showed. I think we had two hits. That's it. You've got to have more than that."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.