DEQUINCY — From the first batter, senior Reese Ashworth took command of DeQuincy’s nonselect Division IV regional playoff game against Vinton on Thursday.

Ashworth no-hit the Lions for a second time this season, striking out 12, in an 11-1 five-inning win to send the Tigers to the quarterfinals. No. 4 DeQuincy (17-11) will play the winner of No. 6 LaSalle (12-8) and No. 11 Welsh (15-15).

“I was feeling good,” Ashworth said. “I had already thrown a no-hitter to them once, so I was feeling it again.

“I just went right at them. That curveball and heater, they would be sitting, and I would throw the curveball, and they would just swing over the top of it.

“The energy in the dugout was awesome. Hopefully, we can bring it to the next round so we can move on to where everybody wants to be, Sulphur.”

Ashworth (8-1) struck out the first nine batters he faced. He had a perfect game going until the fifth inning with one out when he walked back-to-back batters. Vinton’s (14-14) Zander Paladino hit a sacrifice fly to score Lakota Locklear, but Ashworth finished off the Lions by picking off a runner at second base.

“Reese is great,” DeQuincy head coach Brady Carlson said. “He is a great teammate and leader. He is very unselfish. He was out here at 9 o’clock this morning helping to get the field ready. That is just who he is. He doesn’t think he is above anything. He is one of the best players in the area, but we have a lot of good players.”

Ashworth said he was equally impressive at the plate. As the Tigers’ leadoff batter, he hit the first pitch he saw over the left-field wall for a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. He added an RBI double in the fifth inning.

The Tigers had offensive contributions throughout the lineup. Andrew Dowden went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, and Turner Rodriquez was 3-for-3 with three RBIs as the Tigers extended their win streak to seven games.

“We have been struggling this year, but we worked hard,” Carlson said. “The guys have been working hard all year. We played schedule at the beginning of the year and dropped some games, but I told them it would pay off.

“I mixed some guys around today to try to even out the lineup. No one was mad. They are very unselfish kids.”

The Lions tried to use four intentional walks to neutralize Ashworth and Sammy Maddox, another power hitter, but the Tigers kept scoring.

After back-to-back intentional walks in the second inning, Dowden and Rodriquez hit back-to-back RBI singles for a 3-0 lead. Dowden followed another intentional walk in the fifth inning with a two-run single.