LINING UP — North Union slugger Emily Meyer (far right) receives congratulations from Shallie Walders (22) and the rest of her Warrior teammates after hammering a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning of Wednesday night’s Iowa Class 2A, Region 1 softball quarterfinal game against Sibley-Ocheyedan in Swea City. North Union went on to post a 2-0 victory. (Photo by Greg Abel)

SWEA CITY — Emily Meyer recorded a season’s-best 17 strikeouts and slugged her team-leading ninth home run of the summer to power North Union to a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Sibley-Ocheyedan in Wednesday night’s Iowa softball playoff opener.

North Union (21-6) advances to play host to Western Christian of Hull (11-11) in a 7 p.m. Class 2A, Region 1 semifinal on Friday night back in Swea City. Western Christian gained the next round via a 5-1 regional quarterfinal win over Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn (12-14).

The hard-throwing Meyer fired a two-hit complete-game shutout to improve her seasonal record inside the chalked circle to 20-6 overall.

The North Union senior ace right-hander also inched within 13 of the mythical 1,000 strikeout mark for her record-setting five-year prep softball career.

“My velocity felt good from the start tonight,” said Meyer, who lowered her miniscule pre-game ERA of 1.16 with the shutout performance. “I pushed my fingers off the seams better to get more spin on my pitches, and I also pushed harder off the pitching rubber.”

Meyer opened the regional quarterfinal by notching six consecutive strikeouts before Warrior right fielder Ainsley Ulrich made a nice running catch of Madison Marco’s sinking liner near the foul line to start the top of the third.

Meyer then rang up two more strikeouts in the third to carry a rare perfect game into the fourth.

“Em was really ON tonight,” said North Union head coach Kim Price. “She pitched an incredible game for us, and also hit a solo home run on offense.”

Generals’ starting pitcher Alayna Wingate, however, spoiled her rival’s bid for perfection by lining a single up the middle to start the fourth.

Meyer then proved unhittable following Grace Sayler’s fielder’s-choice groundout as she struck out six in a row and got a groundout before issuing her only walk of the night to Wingate. Sayler legged out an infield hit before Meyer thwarted the threat with — what else — a strikeout in the sixth.

Meyer then recorded her fifth 1-2-3 inning of the playoff contest during the top of the seventh to seal the two-run victory.

“I remembered how tough they (Sibley-Ocheyedan) played us in last year’s regional semifinals — which was 2-0, too — and that got me really focused for tonight’s game,” said Meyer.

After Wingate — who’s a Minnesota West College softball commit — recorded a 1-2-3 bottom of the first inning, Meyer took the Generals ace hurler’s first pitch over the left-field fence for a solo HR to lead off the Warriors’ second at-bat.

Shelby Fraker then utilized her sprinter’s speed to manufacture an insurance run for North Union during the last of the fourth.

Fraker legged out a bunt hit, swiped second base and stole third before an errant throw allowed the hometown team’s catcher to cross the plate for a 2-0 lead.

Shallie Walders was hit by a Wingate pitch and Ainsley Ulrich singled, but Wingate escaped further damage in the fourth by notching one of her six strikeouts on the playoff game.

Wingate allowed two runs — one earned — on four hits and did not issue a walk in six stellar innings of work to absorb the loss.

Olivia Von Bank belted a one-out double in the Warriors’ sixth, but was stranded.

SO    000 000 0 — 0 2 2

NU    010 100 x — 2 4 0

Alayna Wingate (LP) and Grace Sayler. Emily Meyer (WP) and Shelby Fraker.

LOB–North Union 3, Sibley-Ocheyedan 3. 2B–Olivia Von Bank (NU). HR–Emily Meyer (NU).