MONMOUTH — The force of Tessie Moody’s line drive back to the circle was enough to send Monmouth pitcher Katie Canning onto her backside. Luckily for the senior, her self-preservation instincts are sharp enough and her reflexes quick enough to make sure the ball stayed off the ground.

That and another timely defensive play to rob Moody were enough to keep No. 10 Winthrop at a safe distance for most of a Class C South preliminary round game Wednesday. Both teams finished with eight hits, but the Mustangs were able to string more together and prevent a few more potential hits with their gloves to beat the rival Ramblers for the third time this season, 9-2.

Monmouth (9-8) advanced to face No. 2 Telstar in a quarterfinal Thursday at 3:30 p.m. Winthrop finished 5-12.

Freshman Mariah Herr led the Mustangs with two hits and three RBIs. Abby Ferland, another freshman, had a two-run double for Monmouth. For Winthrop, Kaleigh Oberg doubled and tripled and Molly Glaser had two singles, an RBI and a run scored.

Monmouth scored what would turn out to be all of the runs it would need off freshman starter Layne Audet with two outs in the second. Trailing 1-0, Mikayla Cameron was hit by a pitch. Singles by Rhiannon Dumond and Emily Chasse sent Cameron home with the tying run. Herr followed with a single that scored Chasse and Herr for a 3-1 lead.

“The kids came to hit today,” Monmouth co-coach Dave Kaplan said. “It’s an evolving thing. We’ve changed the swing, starting last year. What they’re doing at the upper level is basically a baseball swing, so we’ve been gradually changing swings to the more updated style of hitting. It’s taken some time, but they’re starting to get it now and they are all starting to jump on the ball really hard.”

The Mustangs are also getting healthier, which is another reason they’ve won seven of their last nine.

“We started out without a lot of varsity players because of injuries. We have most of our players back now, so we’re a stronger team,” Canning said. “We’ve definitely improved.”

Canning (seven innings, six strikeouts, one walk, one hit batter) allowed a triple to Oberg to lead off the game and Glaser’s RBI single for an early 1-0 Winthrop lead. But the Mustangs usually had a remedy any time the Ramblers tried to add on after that.

Dumond made a terrific leaping grab to rob Moody of extra bases in right field to lead off the third. With two out, Moriah Hajduk tripled and Canning hit Kate Perkins with a pitch. But she preserved the two-run lead by getting Glaser to ground out to short.

“The defense made all of the plays today. It was nice to see,” Kaplan said. “Rhiannon made the best play she’s made all year. That was a great catch and stopped a big inning.”

Canning may have averted another big inning in the fifth by snaring Moody’s screamer to lead off the inning.

“It was really hard but I just stuck my glove up and got it,” she said. “I had some nerves after that.”

Canning walked the next hitter, Oberg, but retired the next two batters to end the inning. She allowed three straight singles to start the sixth, with Shie Smith’s scoring Glaser with Winthrop’s second run.

By that time, however, Monmouth had tacked on a run without a hit in the fourth and four more in the fifth, with Ferland’s double being the big blow.

“I mostly threw my curve ball and fastball,” Canning said. “My curve ball worked really well today.”

“Katie pitched great. She got stronger as the game went along and she was hitting her spots,” said Kaplan, whose team beat Winthrop, 11-2 and 2-0 during the regular season. “(Winthrop) came to hit, too. That’s a very good young team. They’re very young like us, so we’ll have some good battles in the future.”

The Ramblers graduate just one senior starter, Moody.

“We start five freshmen and our goal was to get them into the playoffs and get them a taste of it,” said Winthrop coach Chuck Gurney, who learned Tuesday that his team will receive the MPA’s sportsmanship award next week. “Monmouth is a good team.”

Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638

rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com Twitter: @RAWmaterial33