BRIDGMAN — The Buchanan softball team won the Division 3 district championship with a 2-0 victory over arch-rival Brandywine in a rain-shortened game Saturday.

The tournament got off to a soggy start and saw the semifinal games pushed from 10 a.m. scheduled starts to noon, foreshadowing how the day’s weather would loom over the tournament.

The Bucks, led by seniors Chelsey Bennett and Morgan Richer, opened the day against a solid Constantine team that hung an early run on the Bucks in the top of the first. Buchanan wasted no time, striking back with four runs of its own in the bottom of the opening frame.

Over the next two innings, Constantine fought back to within one run of the Bucks, trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the third. In a crucial moment early in the game, Buchanan pitcher Maddie Hemphill buckled down, held off the building Constantine momentum and struck out the final batter. Buchanan plated four more runs in the bottom of the third to take a commanding 8-3 lead.

That lead proved to be insurmountable for Constantine as the Lady Bucks went on to win 10-5.

In the other semifinal game defending district champions, Brandywine, defeated Bridgman, 2-0. The win set up a rematch of last year’s semifinal game in which the Bobcats knocked off the Bucks on their way to the 2014 district championship.

This year’s championship game was a fast-paced, low-scoring battle, played against the backdrop of a cold and rainy spring day in Michigan.

The first four innings came and went quickly with no runs being scored by either squad. Then, the Buck’s bats came alive in the bottom of the fifth inning.

The power-hitting of Bennett and junior, Jade Mosier (five home runs each this season) was not as prominent Saturday as it had been all season, but the Bucks have talented hitters up and down their roster.

Saturday, it was the bat of freshman Jayla Bibbs that brought in the game’s first run, that proved to be the game winner. After adding one more run in the bottom of the fifth and shutting out the Bobcats in the top of the sixth, the Bucks came to the plate with the lead in the bottom of the sixth.

Then came the rain.

After an approximately 45-minute rain delay the tournament ended somewhat anticlimactically due to the weather. The Lady Bobcats showed great class and sportsmanship when the verdict to end the game came down.

The final score was 2-0.

The Lady Bucks move on to the regional tournament Saturday in Bloomingdale. The Bucks will face Fennville in the second game at approximately noon. The first game will pit Gobles against Grand Rapids West Catholic at 10 a.m.

The championship game is slated for 2 p.m.