The Morrison Fillies are defending regional champions and returning sectional finalists and are starting to put all the pieces together to make another deep postseason run.

On Tuesday, the Fillies rode the pitching of junior ace Ava Duncan, who scattered four hits with no earned runs and nine strikeouts, and the hitting of catcher Allie Anderson (3-for-4 with two RBIs) to a 5-2 win over former Three Rivers Conference rival Bureau Valley in Manlius.

“We have made some adjustments the last couple games that make me feel better about the postseason,” first-year Morrison head coach Larry Rice said. “We still got a few too many errors, but we’re trying to clean them up the best we can.

“Ava has been a really strong pitcher and we rely on her heavily to get us through defensively. On offense, I’m still waiting for us to break it out a little bit. I know our best hitting is yet to come. At least I hope it is.”

The Fillies (15-6) raced out of the gate with three runs on four hits in the top of the first.

Bella Scachette got things going with a one-hit single to left field. She moved up to third on a two-base error and scored on a Anderson’s line drive single to center.

Ellie Milnes followed with a RBI double to deep left and scored on Caylee Bramm’s two-out single to right.

The Scachette-Anderson combo worked their magic for another Morrison run in the fifth with Anderson delivering another RBI hit to make it 4-0.

Milnes put the Fillies up 5-0 with a RBI single to right in the seventh.

The Storm (8-15) did all their scoring in their last at-bat.

Kadyn Haage got BV on the board in the bottom of the seventh with a sac fly to center to bring home Avery Bopes. They scored again on a Morrison error before Duncan ended the threat with a strikeout and a pop out.

BV coach Dave Shepard was pleased to see the Storm keep on fighting.

“I think we had two or three opportunities earlier, we just couldn’t get a timely hit,” he said. “And then at the end, the girls strung some hits together and that’s what we need to do. One thing we’re missing is we are not stringing hits together.”

The Storm were also missing senior captain/catcher Emily Wright, who was ill, as well as classmate Katrina Wahl, who is injured.

“Emily is under the weather last night and tonight. She’s one of our leaders. She makes us go, right? She’s my leader out on the field and she’s my leader on offense,” Shepard said. “Her and Haage have just been hitting a ton. And Ali Carrington has been hitting a ton. Really happy with her.”

Milnes (two RBIs), Scachette, Duncan and Peyton Lowery (triple) had two hits apiece for the Fillies.

Duncan, who has taken over Morrison’s role of ace this seaosn from her sister, Bella, who now plays for Western Michigan, went the route for the win.

“Ava is one of our team captains and it’s nice to have her in a leadership role playing such a heavy role,” Rice said. “And Allie Anderson has just been a rock solid player for us behind the plate. Going to miss her next year.”

Shepard was equally pleased with the Storm’s sophomore pitcher Danicka Benavidez, who scattered 12 hits with a walk and seven strikeouts.

“(Gave up) five runs and I would take two off the board (due to errors). Three runs, we should be there. So very happy,” he said.