Allie Schwirtz had everything working on Friday afternoon.
Mayville's junior pitcher struck out seven batters in the Cardinals' 1-0 win against North Fond du Lac in the WIAA Regional Championship.
"It definitely takes some pressure off of me when we have a lead," Schwirtz said. "It also helps a lot when my defense is really strong like they were today."
Coach Steve Pliner said he thinks Schwirtz missed a couple pitches all night.
"She was pretty locked in all day," Pliner said. "She probably threw 80 pitches today and only missed probably two. She's just calm, cool, collected every time."
Schwirtz was unable to get into a groove on offense because NFDL decided to intentionally walk her twice, including in the third inning with Hayden Schabel on second base.
That brought up senior right fielder Adeline Youngbeck, who hit an RBI single up the middle for what turned out to be the winning run. Pliner said Youngbeck is not the batter to mess with in big moments.
"In the playoffs, that's actually the wrong thing to do," Pliner said. "Somehow Addy Youngbeck comes up with hits every time in the playoffs. Last year she went on a tear in the playoffs."
Youngbeck also hit a sharp liner in the fifth inning with two runners on base, which Oriole shortstop Lauren Stettbacher caught to end the inning.
Mayville (18-4) had traffic on the basepaths all game offensively but were unable to get the big hit to drive in runs. The Cardinals left 10 runners on base.
"That's what happens at this time in the season," Pliner said. "Everybody locks down and plays good defense and we just didn't come up with the big hit when we needed it to put a bunch of runs on the board, but I thought they played really solid today."
The Orioles (12-12) had their best scoring chance in the top of the fourth when Stettbacher and Cami Nitz led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Schwirtz got out of it with a pair of groundouts and a strikeout.
The defensive play of the night came in the fifth inning when freshman Janel Youngbeck laid out in center field to make a diving catch. Three batters later, she ran down and caught another ball that was hit into the gap.
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