Seniors on the Battlefield softball team have waited three years to make it back to the state tournament championship, knowing fully well that there is still some unfinished business left to attend to from the 2008 season.

If anyone cares to stop them, they have yet to show up in the post-season.

Battlefield cruised to a 3-0 victory over Halifax Friday evening in Haymarket to win the Northwest Regional title and improve to 23-1 on the season. The win assured Battlefield a home game in the state quarterfinals and a chance to redeem its back-to-back 1-0 losses in the first round of states during the last two years.

Pitcher Miranda Kemp went the distance for the Bobcats, striking out eight and scattering three singles during her complete-game shutout victory, the third of which she's thrown during the post-season.

"She got ahead of them a lot and that made them have to adjust to her" instead of the other way around, said BHS head coach Joe Schelzo.

Kemp helped her own cause with a base hit in the fifth inning. Shannon Black then reached base to set up a two-on situation for lead-off hitter Bailey Liddle.

The senior third baseman collected the Bobcats' first RBI with a single to center on a full-count offering that turned into a triple after an errant throw.

A sacrifice-fly from Tyler Welch scored Liddle and gave Battlefield its winning margin.

"Unlike most teams, we can produce runs 1-9 in our order," said Schelzo, adding that, "We're capable of somebody different" providing run support on any given night.

Battlefield advanced to the regional finals after topping Hylton 1-0 in the first round and Mountain View 10-1 in the semi-finals. Schelzo reckoned that while two out of the three regional games came by relatively tight margins, Battlefield's playing against competition at this point in the season that is not going to generally allow for blow-out affairs.

"We're not going to run-rule anybody at this point," said Schelzo.

Instead, he's stressing that solid defense keeping runners off the base paths is key to pulling out games against tough opponents.

Only one runner from Halifax even attempted to reach second base against Battlefield on June 3, yet catcher Stephanie Figgins gunned out the would-be base-stealer with a throw to the shortstop Black, who applied the tag for the out.

"Shannon has just been playing lights-out shortstop," said Schelzo.

He noted that while Battlefield enters the state tournament for the fourth straight year, "it's taken 12 months of hard work to get back to that point.

"It's takes a lot of work to get there," he said, "and now it's in their hands."