Fans at Fox Lake Area Sports Complex knew the Martin County West pitcher had what it took after her first inning against Madelia. Strikeout, strikeout, strikeout. Carlson dazzled the Blackhawk batting order with a perfect mix of speed and precision.

She carried this momentum from the opening frame to the final pitch, tossing a five-inning perfect game to guide the Mavericks past Madelia 10-0 on Thursday afternoon. MCW is now 4-0 on the season and has outscored its opponents by 41. The Maverick pitching staff has allowed just two runs all year.

“Maddie pitched a great game. She got ahead, especially in the first half there,” Maverick head coach Darrell Ziegler said following his star pitcher’s performance.

Carlson’s first four innings in the circle were a beam of consistency. She allowed contact on three instances, all of which never left the infield.

Photo by Jake Olson: Martin County West's Lillie Schultz gets up after stealing second base during the fourth inning of Thursday afternoon's contest against Madelia.

The other nine batters were struck out on minimal pitches, and she finished this stretch fanning two of the last three batters. Ziegler credited Carlson’s impressive pitching mix as the reason for keeping Madelia on their heels.

“When it’s a bit warmer, it’s usually easier for the pitcher to get loose and to have a real pop on their pitches,” he said. “We’ve been working on her change-up, and she threw several of those for strikes tonight. She’s just been hitting her pitches in her locations.”

While the Mavericks had four runs going into the bottom of the fourth inning, the offense really started generating hard contact and momentum on the base paths during their final trip to the plate.

The frame began with Lillie Schultz and Courtney Anderson reaching base via consecutive walks. Carlson drove in the first score after slashing the ball through the left side of the infield to bring in a run.

Bailey Larson and Emily Schettler took advantage of errors from Madelia’s defense before Ida Rohman drove an RBI triple to deep left field, capping off an inning that saw a crooked number and put the mercy rule into full effect.

Martin County West's Rowan Faber runs the base paths during the first inning of Thursday afternoon's contest against Madelia. The Mavericks won 10-0 in five innings to remain undefeated.

“We did a little better that inning as far as laying off that high pitch,” Ziegler said, regarding the fourth inning. “They hit the ball a little bit harder that inning, and when they [Madelia] didn’t make a couple of plays [in the field], we did a nice job of running the bases and taking advantage of those miscues.”

MCW will aim to keep its undefeated start to the spring intact on Friday afternoon against United South Central. First pitch at Thompson Park is set to begin at 4:30 p.m.