TOWER CITY - It’s evident how important three outs can be in a game of softball.

On Thursday, the Weatherly softball team found out firsthand that giving any team extra outs can be rather costly.

Certainly in the postseason, especially when the opponent is the defending state champion.

Tri-Valley took total advantage of those “extra outs” to run away with a 14-0 victory over the Wreckers in the semifinal round of the District 11 Class 1A tournament on Thursday.

The top-seeded Bulldogs will now face Nativity on Tuesday at a site and time to be determined in the championship game.

While the Wreckers struggled defensively, Tri-Valley was perfect in the field, something that Weatherly coach Will Bartel hopes serves as a lesson for his team.

“What makes Tri-Valley is their defense,” Bartel said. “They don’t make errors. They didn’t have one error today. Our girls put the ball in play, and every time they did they got the out.

“That’s the difference between winning and losing - and that’s why they’re going on and we’re going home.”

The Wreckers had a chance to strike first in the top half of the opening inning. With two outs, Madyson vonFrisch laced a double, but ended up stranded at second base when Raynessa Diaz flew out to centerfield.

Tri-Valley then erupted for six runs in the bottom of the frame to take control early. Sydney Schley and Faith Colahan had the only hits in the inning for the Bulldogs, who benefited from three Weatherly errors.

It was the beginning of an ominous pattern for the Wreckers, who had a pair of errors in both Tri-Valley’s three-run second inning, and three-run third inning.

“We should have made a bunch of plays, and ended up just giving them too many outs,” Bartel said. “You just can’t give the defending state title champions four, five and six outs in an inning - especially early in the game.

“You need to get outs and make plays when you have a chance.”

While the Bulldogs took advantage of Weatherly mistakes to put crooked numbers on the scoreboard, Tri-Valley pitcher Sydney Schley and her defense went on to record 12 straight outs after stranding vonFrisch at second in the first.

Down to their last out in the fifth, the Wreckers battled to try to prevent the mercy-rule decision as Evelyn Ford and Rachel Rosenlaud broke up Schley’s consecutive out stretch with back-to-back singles.

But the Bulldogs’ defense stepped up once again and got the last out of the inning on a liner to second base.

“Their pitcher is terrific,” Bartel said. “We mustered a few hits against her, but just couldn’t put enough of them together to push across any runs.

“She’s around the plate. She mixes it up. But my girls put the ball in play - we only struck out four times.”

STELLAR SEASON … Weatherly’s vonFrisch had an outstanding season in the circle. Thursdsay she added five more strikeouts to her season total. “I can’t say enough about Madyson vonFrisch,” Bartel said. “She does her job. She works hard. I think she finished with close to 240 strikeouts on the year.”

GROWTH SEEN … “I’m really happy with the progress of our program,” Bartel said. “They’re not the same kids that came to us back in February, and that’s the most important thing.”

Weatherly 000 00 - 0 3 8

Tri-Valley 633 2x - 14 11 0

vonFrisch and Diaz; Schley and Snyder. W - Schley. L - vonFrisch.