Photo by Jake Olson: Martin County West's Rowan Faber heads towards home during the seventh inning of Friday afternoon's contest against Fairmont. Faber's score pushed MCW past the Cardinals, 4-3, improving its record to 21-1 on the season.

WELCOME – It would have been easy for Martin County West to fold under pressure. The Mavericks’ two-run lead turned into a tie ball game after consecutive RBI hits from Gwyneth Schultz and Brylee Miller gave life to a relatively quiet Fairmont offense in the top of the seventh. But MCW’s response was there.

Back-to-back singles from Maverick lead-off hitters Rowan Faber and Lillie Schultz set the table for Ida Rohman. The junior laced a sharp grounder to the left side that proved too hot for shortstop Lexi Sundeen to handle, bringing home the game-winning run that put an exclamation point on MCW’s 4-3 victory over the Cardinals on Friday afternoon at Fox Lake Area Sports Complex. It’s the first time the Mavericks (21-1) have defeated Fairmont (14-6) since the spring of 2021.

“In my two-minute post-game speech, I think I said to the girls that this was a really good softball game about three times,” Fairmont softball head coach Cory Hainy said. “Just two really sound teams, and they got the last swing.”

Gwyneth Schultz started her fantastic game with a literal bang at the plate. Picking up her first of two hits, the Fairmont catcher took Maverick ace Maddie Carlson deep just six pitches into the contest. A home run that left little doubt from the moment it hit the bat.

However, it was one of the few blemishes on Carlson’s afternoon. The hard-throwing righty continued to settle in the circle over the next few frames, proving virtually untouchable as she allowed no more hits and fanned five batters after four innings. Everything was working early on.

“Maddie threw five innings last game, and she pitched a good game today,” Hainy said.

Miller matched her opponent every step of the way with her powerful delivery. Faber’s lead-off double in the first was the only hard contact MCW found off the senior to start. Following that, the right-hander strung together two straight 1-2-3 innings to keep her team ahead.

Things changed quickly when the Mavericks’ batting order came to the plate for the second time. Whether it was an adjustment to Miller’s speed or the settling of any nerves, MCW head coach Darrell Ziegler saw his team approach their at-bats with a new form of confidence and aggression that finally broke through Fairmont’s defense.

Lillie Schultz and Carlson sent a pair of line drives between the first and second base gap to get the hitting barrage started. The big hit of the inning came from Maverick third baseman Courtney Anderson.

Facing a 1-1 count, Anderson sent the ball over the shoulder of Fairmont centerfielder Layla Weihe, clearing the basepaths and leading to a comfortable triple in front of the home dugout. Bailey Larson made it three straight hits with a lightning-fast drive up the middle. It was a 3-1 Maverick lead just like that.

“I think it was just us settling down and seeing her [Miller] that second time in the batting order,” Ziegler said. “We’ve been seeing some really good pitching lately, and I know our kids can hit those pitchers too.”

It was up to the bottom of Fairmont’s batting order to start a seventh-inning rally. Carlson, to this point, seemed to find a rhythm that not many hitters could break. Hainy’s team needed a spark.

“Before that inning started, I said that we needed two girls to get on base before we got back to the top of the lineup,” Hainy said.

The Cardinals didn’t just plate the first two runners. They loaded the bases. York’s walk with one out was followed immediately by Weihe’s first hit of the afternoon through the left side. The speedy Nora Fitzgerald then laid a perfectly placed bunt before beating out any sort of throw from a charging Anderson. Fairmont couldn’t have drawn it up any better.

Gwyneth Schultz drove in her second run of the game on a deep fly ball to left field that drew close to the warning track. With two outs on the board, Miller couldn’t have picked a better time for her first hit of the night. Her sharp grounder up the middle plated the game-tying run before Carlson finally struck out Sundeen to escape the frame.

“A number of times, we had hit the ball fairly hard, but right at people,” Hainy said. “We hit a couple of balls really hard towards the shortstop [Faber], but she made plays. …But we were able to load up the bases for the top of the order.”

Much like Hainy, Ziegler preached to his team about starting their seventh-inning rally by getting runners on base. The Mavericks answered with one out as Faber and Lillie Schultz reached on a pair of singles. Rohman then put enough pressure on Fairmont’s defense with a hard ground ball to the left side.

“We talked about just being confident when you get up there. Putting runners on base to put some pressure on their defense,” Ziegler said. “And that’s exactly what we did.”

Both teams are now gearing towards their respective section tournaments next week. Fairmont earned the No. 4 seed in the Section 2AA bracket and will face Bloomington Prairie on Tuesday at Cardinal Park. The Mavericks did enough in the regular season to pick up the No. 1 seed in Section 2A. They will face the winner of No. 8 Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton and No. 9 Springfield on Thursday at Fox Lake Area Sports Complex. Both contests will start at 5:00 p.m.