WARDSVILLE - When it comes to softball in the Tri-County Conference, it was business as usual Monday night for the Blair Oaks Lady Falcons at the Falcon Athletic Complex.
Blair Oaks scored three or more runs in each of the first three innings, cruising to a 14-0 win in five innings against the Boonville Lady Pirates to finish the Tri-County schedule with a 7-0 record.
The Lady Falcons end the regular season with a 19-5 record.
"I told the girls it's district week, so let's treat this like it's our first game in districts," Blair Oaks coach Sharon Buschjost said. "Just come out and set the tone, play the way we want to play in district week."
The Lady Falcons clinched the Tri-County title outright with Monday's win, their ninth straight conference championship. Blair Oaks has won its last 31 conference games.
"The conference target is on our back, and every year - I've been saying this for a while - teams are getting better and better," Buschjost said. "Repeating as conference champs is getting tougher and tougher."
It also gives Blair Oaks 23 conference championships in Buschjost's 24 seasons as coach.
"It is something that you cannot take for granted," she said.
"The teams, year after year, have taken a lot of pride in earning that conference title."
Blair Oaks improved to 8-1 in the month of October. During the past three seasons, the Lady Falcons are 26-3 in October, and they are a remarkable 66-15 in that month during the past decade.
"A big tournament win for us was the Hickman Tournament," Buschjost said. "We knew we beat some quality teams in that tournament."
Blair Oaks had all 14 runs score in the first five spots of the batting order. Natalie Otto, Alexis Findley and Kathleen Groner each scored three times.
"That's what I want from those first batters," Buschjost said. "I think if they can set the tone for the rest of the batters, it takes a little bit of pressure off of the middle-to-bottom of the order. I think the top of our order has been doing a really good job."
Blair Oaks scored three runs with two outs in the first inning, getting RBI hits from Groner and Andi Siebeneck. The Lady Falcons added four runs in the second and five more in the third to build a 12-0 lead.
Findley hit a two-run single in the second, then added a two-run double in the third. Siebeneck also matched Findley with a team-high four RBI, driving in at least one run in each of her three plate appearances.
"Tonight, you saw the ball come off the bat in a variety of ways," Buschjost said.
Buschjost started inserting players off the bench into the game in the bottom of the third. Lauren Strange had an RBI single in her lone plate appearance.
In the fourth, Madi Boessen came off the bench and belted a two-run home run to right-center field - her first of the season - to extend the lead to 14-0.
Boessen missed the start of the season due to offseason surgery. She didn't play her first varsity game until Sept. 27 against Lafayette County in the Warrensburg Tournament.
"Everybody was pulling for her to get a hit," Buschjost said. "The girls were talking about how the ball just came off of her bat, it just shot off.
"The practice time hasn't been there for her because we've just played so many games. I told her to be patient, and when you get the opportunity, have fun with it."
Ellie Kliethermes added two singles for the Lady Falcons, who finished with 13 hits. Groner also had a single, a double and two RBI.
Siebeneck recorded her eighth shutout of the season, pitching a two-hitter. She struck out 11 of the 17 batters she faced while lowering her season ERA to 0.10.
"Andi and Ellie found (Boonville's) weaknesses and either got them to chase one early or got an early strike call and went up the ladder," Buschjost said. "They were chasing her riseball, and it was effective."
Blair Oaks now has a district title streak to defend. The Lady Falcons enter the Class 3 District 9 Tournament later this week in Ashland with a streak of 13 straight district championships.
Blair Oaks, the No. 2 seed, awaits the winner of No. 3 Southern Boone (17-4) and No. 6 Eldon (4-21) in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Thursday.
"We're going in as an underdog," Buschjost said, as Helias holds the No. 1 seed in the district. "Hopefully that's extra motivation for us."
In the JV game, Blair Oaks defeated Boonville 9-0 to finish the season with a 14-3-1 record.
Olivia Moyer struck out five batters in the first three innings for the Lady Falcons, while Delaney Skinner had one strikeout in the final two innings.
Anna Hankins had a double and three RBI, while Moyer, Kenadi Braun and Alayna Roling each had one hit and one RBI.