Photo by Jake Olson: North Union's Brylie Deim celebrates her home run swing with teammate Olivia Price during Friday night's contest against Bishop Garrigan in Swea City.

SWEA CITY – Kim Price’s belief in her team never wavered during Friday night’s contest against Bishop Garrigan. The Golden Bears’ initial two-run punch in the top half of the first hadn’t changed the Warriors’ mindset. They haven’t even swung a bat yet.

The home half of the opening frame was more than a comeback effort. It was a prelude for things to come.

Three straight innings of constant offensive pressure were backed by a strong finish from Ainsley Ulrich in the circle, leading to a 12-2 victory for North Union (6-1) and its sixth straight addition to the win column. The Warriors have won every contest since dropping their season opener to Pocahontas Area on May 26.

“I didn’t have any doubt in my mind. We were going to be fine to get some hits and runs,” the North Union head coach said. “Just because they scored two in the first inning doesn’t mean they were going to score every frame. We were then able to hold and not let them score again, which was good.”

“If we just play our game, then we are going to win. With most teams that we play, as long as we come out, stay up, and never get down, then we will be fine. And we’ve just had really good attitudes.”

Back-to-back clanks from Bishop Garrigan’s metal bats set the stage for their early surge of offense. Kiah Villarreal and Alyssa Haugland immediately threatened the base paths after hitting a double and a single on Ulrich’s first couple of pitches.

The two runners in scoring position advanced to ultimately score after some execution at the plate from Jenna Peterson and Lillian Erpelding-Wickman, whose sacrifice hits put an immediate stamp on the contest.

But the stamp was merely temporary.

Olivia Price, Maisey Bierstedt and Kyla Irmiter each secured RBI hits to leave an immediate four runs on the scoreboard. Shallie Walders also scampered home on a passed ball. This was the theme for Kim Price’s offense the entire contest. North Union’s ability to convert with runners on base was what provided its success.

“When we got runners on base, we were able to advance them and score. That’s obviously helpful, because sometimes you can’t string [hits] together as often as you’d like,” Kim Price said. “That was one thing we did well tonight. Just executing.”

Ulrich’s second consecutive 1-2-3 inning gave North Union a chance to take its 6-2 advantage to further heights heading into the bottom of the third. And they did just that.

Olivia Price and Brylie Deim put the exclamation point on the evening with back-to-back big hits from their No. 2 and No. 3 spot in the lineup. Olivia Price roped her second double of the night, which brought in a pair of runners on base.

A handful of pitches later, Deim pushed the advantage to 10 runs with one big swing, sending a ball over the left field wall for her second and third RBIs. It was her second home run of the season.

North Union kicked the mercy rule into effect after another powerful inning from Ulrich. She tallied the fourth, fifth and sixth strikeouts of her start, completing the game after four frames and securing the victory. Ulrich gave up just one hit over the final three innings.

The Warriors are set to play in the Newell-Fonda Softball Tournament on Saturday at the Newell-Fonda softball field. They take on Sioux Central at 12:40 p.m. before battling Newell-Fonda later in the day at 4:20 p.m. North Union returns to Swea City next Tuesday against West Hancock.