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NEW MATAMORAS -- Frontier is the last baseball team standing in Washington County.
The fourth-seeded Cougars bested eighth-seeded Malvern 8-1 in a Division IV sectional final Thursday.
"This was the goal," said Frontier head coach Kurt Satterfield. "That was the World Series for us. This was a long time coming. The last time we won the sectional was 2017."
J.D. Schmidt threw a complete game, allowing one unearned run on three hits. He walked three batters and struck out 10, throwing 105 pitches -- 70 for strikes.
"He threw great," Satterfield said. "He threw a little more pitches than normal. He got to 3-2 in the count a lot, but kept his focus, regrouped and came through for us."
Slade Amos had the big hit of the game with a two-run home run.
"When it left the bat, everybody knew (it was gone)," Satterfield said.
Karter Satterfield also had a clutch double late in the game. He finished with a game-high two hits.
"He saw eight pitches that at-bat," coach Satterfield said. "He fought to a 3-2 count and hit a double to make it 8-0. That was kind of the dagger."
Lucas Cox, Austin Holdren, Rylee Childers and Noah West all added a hit. Holdren and Childers both produced an RBI.
"We kind of nickel-and-dimed them early," coach Satterfield said. "We hit the ball on the ground and made them field it. We hustled, and kind of forced them into quick throws."
Frontier, which took advantage of six Malvern errors, will play Hiland at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the district semifinal. The location is to be determined.
"We're all excited about it," said Satterfield, who hinted Schmidt could get the nod on the mound against Hiland. "I've coached eight of our 16 kids since they were 6 or 7 years old. This is kind of what we've been dreaming about. I'm proud of them."
SOFTBALL
South Webster 6, Belpre 4
RIO GRANDE, Ohio -- South Webster put up two runs in the fifth and one more in the seventh as it came away with a 6-4 district semifinal victory over Belpre Thursday.
The game actually started Wednesday, with the Jeeps leading 3-2 after two innings, but play was suspended to Thursday due to weather.
Belpre tallied two runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 4-3 lead, but was unable to hold on.
"We had some untimely errors and gave up some unearned runs which came back to bite us," said Belpre head coach Stephanie Evans. "Makayla (Carmichael) and Taylor (Parker) did a good job pitching and catching. It was a pretty good pitcher's duel other than a couple errors. They punched and we punched back. It was a very competitive game. All respect to South Webster."
Carmichael pitched a complete game with eight strikeouts and two walks. Her counterpart, Rylee McGraw, also went the distance with 11 punchouts and three bases on balls.
The Jeeps improved to 17-9 and will play Waterford at 2 p.m. Saturday at Rio Grande in the district championship game.
Carissa Sprigg and Allie Jaraucaro both doubled and drove in a run for Belpre. Bella Claxon doubled twice and drove in two runs for the Jeeps, Skyler Zimmerman doubled and tripled and Bri Claxon had a pair of hits.
The Golden Eagles' season comes to close with a 16-8 record, having won TVC Hocking and sectional championships.
"We didn't want it to end this soon, but looking back at what they accomplished, they have to be so proud," Evans said. "They did a great job."