JACKSON TWP — Seneca Valley was looking for a start.

Maura Pasquale provided it with a tenacious at-bat.

Pasquale fouled back four straight 3-2 pitches from Butler's Shelby Barnett before beating out an infield single with two outs in the third inning. Mac Baker followed with an infield hit of her own before Karli Hacker blooped a two-run double to center.

That snapped a scoreless tie and got the Raiders (8-2, 5-2) off and running to a 6-2 softball victory over the Golden Tornado Tuesday afternoon.

“I'd have liked to see us get started a little earlier, but, yeah, those first two runs were big,” SV coach George Trew said. “I'm not sure how this game goes if we don't score there.

“Fortunately, we were able to add on a couple of runs here and there.”

Barnett was hit by a pitch and scored on Kat Rudolf's ground ball for Butler (1-5) in the fourth, cutting the Raiders' lead in half.

But Seneca Valley added a pair of runs in the fifth and sixth innings to get some breathing room.

Hacker's two-run double fell in between Butler shortstop Autumn Pettinato and center fielder Erin Rinaman. The two collided on the play. Neither was hurt.

“That inning was just one of those things,” Butler coach Cait Baxter said. “This game probably has a different look if they don't score there.

“A team's mentality changes when you fall behind. The confidence sags a little bit.”

Baker and Hacker hit sacrifice flies in the Raiders' fifth inning. Madison Hans tripled to right in the sixth and scored on Julia Ehrman's double to left. Ehrman scored on Kearson Wagner's single.

Wagner had three singles, Hacker three RBI in the contest.

“Karli and Mac are both hitting over .400 and Kearson';s right around there,” Trew said. “Our team average was .333 coming into today and that probably went up a little bit.”

Seneca Valley had 11 hits on the day. Butler had eight hits, but left the bases loaded in the first inning and stranded a pair of runners in the fourth.

“We've been hitting the ball, but I'd like to see those hits translate into more runs,” Baxter said. “I like to win. I want to see us get some wins ... We're getting close.”

Trew has 223 career wins at Seneca Valley. Baxter — in her first year as Golden Tornado coach — has one head coaching win.

Butler played errorless softball Monday and Barnett struck out five in a route-going effort on the mound.

“She (Baxter) is doing a great job,” Trew said. “Butler is getting much better. This was a very clean, competitive game. They're turning the corner.”

Baxter agreed.

“We're a very young team — only two seniors — and we were in this game the whole way against one of the best teams in our section,” she said. “That's encouraging.”

Claire Zimmerman struck out five and walked only one on the mound for the Raiders.

“She throws strikes and doesn't hurt herself,” Trew said.

Seneca Valley began the day in a second-place tie with Hempfield and Norwin in their section, trailing unbeaten North Allegheny.

“You want to finish first or second,” Trew said of the section race. “To guarantee ourselves that, we have to keep winning.”

Seneca Valley 002 022 0 — 6 11 1

Butler 001 000 1 — 2 8 0

W: Claire Zimmerman 7IP (5K, 1BB). L: Shelby Barnett 7IP (5K, 3BB).

Seneca Valley (8-2, 5-2): Kearson Wagner 3-1B RBI, Maura Pasquale 2-1B, Mac Baker 1B RBI, Karli Hacker 2B 1B 3-RBI, Madison Hans 3B, Claire Zimmerman RBI, Julia Ehrman 1B 2B 2-R

Butler (1-5, 1-5): Autumn Pettinato 3B RBI, Erin Rinaman 1B, Makenna Negley 1B 2B, Lauren Hesidence 1B, Jate Ogin 1B, Madi Schaeffer 1B, Kat Rudolf 2B RBI

Wednesday: Butler at North Hills, Seneca Valley at Pine-Richland