TEAMWORK — North Union centerfielder Naomi Jones (right) hauls in a fly ball as Warrior left fielder Sam Nielsen gives support on the play during Iowa prep softball action Wednesday night in Swea City. (Photo by Charlie Sorrells)

SWEA CITY — With 133 strikeouts in 78 innings pitched to her credit prior to Wednesday’s Iowa prep softball game, North Union ace right-hander Emily Meyer’s name is closely associated with the letter ‘K.’

Meyer added the letter ‘O’ for offensive output by hammering her fourth home run of the season during a six-run second at-bat to help the Class 2A, No. 9-ranked Warriors ‘KO’ the North Iowa Bison, 12-0, during a three-inning, run-rule rout.

“Once again, Emily demonstrated her (pitching) control by striking out four in three innings, and did not allow a walk tonight,” North Union head coach Kim Price said in reference to her sophomore pitching sensation.

After giving up a bloop single to right field to Eden Greensky with two outs in the top of the first inning, Meyer and the Warriors reeled off seven straight outs while the hometown batting order piled up double-digit run totals to earn an early exit.

Sam Nielsen and Cassie Beadle set the proverbial offensive table for the Warriors by drawing back-to-back walks from North Iowa starting pitcher Jaycee Plath in the bottom of the first.

Vanessa Von Bank reached one out later via a Bison error before Meyer assisted her own cause by drilling an RBI single to left. Shelby Fraker’s mishandled grounder plated another North Union run before Maggie Engelby connected for a two-run single to center.

Naomi Jones, who went 3-for-3 on the game, crushed a delivery for a single into left field to bring home another Warrior teammate to grab a quick 5-0 edge on the scoreboard.

After sending 10 to the batter’s box in the first, North Union duplicated that exact amount of trips to the plate, only scored one more run in the second to inch within one of the run-rule at 11-0.

Beadle was grazed by an offering, Olivia Von Bank singled and Meyer slugged a three-run HR to left to extend the lead to 8-0. With two outs, Engelby served as the catalyst behind three more second-inning runs by walking before eventually scoring on the heels of Jones’ single and Ella Ulrich’s RBI hit.

Nielsen plated one more run with an infield hit before Beadle added an RBI fielder’s choice to cap the offensive output.

Vanessa Von Bank then put an exclamation point on the 12-run triumph by smacking an infield liner off the Bison pitcher, swiped second base, moved to third on Fraker’s bunt hit, stayed in place on a walk to Engelby and trotted home when Jones belted the walk-off RBI single to right.

Jones collected three hits and two RBIs for the Warriors, Meyer homered and singled en route to four RBIs, while Engelby chipped in a hit and two RBIs.

North Union (15-1) plays host to Forest City at 6 p.m. Friday night. North Iowa (5-7) plays host to Rockford at 6 p.m. Friday night in Buffalo Center, Iowa.

North Iowa 000 — 0 0 1

North Union 561 — 12 12 0

Jaycee Plath (LP) and Ashlyn Bechler. Emily Meyer (WP) and Shelby Fraker.

LOB–North Union 5, North Iowa 1. HR–Emily Meyer (N. Union).