Photo by Jake Olson: North Union's Marissa Nielsen got the start during Tuesday night's contest against ELC in Swea City. She finished with four strikeouts in over 2.2 innings.

SWEA CITY – Estherville Lincoln Central had every intention of playing spoiler on Tuesday night.

The contest between the Midgets and North Union got scheduled at the very last minute. In addition to wanting to give her team a chance to recognize its senior class, Warriors head coach Kim Price intended for extra repetition prior to Wednesday’s Class 1A, Region 6 quarterfinal showdown against Bishop Garrigan.

The game was controlled by ELC moments after Olivia Price, Brylie Deim and Kyla Irmiter were honored at home plate. Kacie Brechwald’s complete-game effort allowed just six hits from the high-volume Warriors (23-10) offense. The Midgets (4-21) followed this by scoring four and three runs in the second and seventh innings, fueling a 9-5 victory at North Union Middle School in Swea City.

“Sometimes we underestimate a team,” Kim Price said. “I mean, we just played them last week and scored 18 runs. We come into tonight with the attitude of it’s a no-brainer, and this game is a win. But I just talked to them after and said this team played a way better game today. They came to play and did a lot of really good things.”

The biggest impact in ELC’s victory came from their pitching and defense. Brechwald did her part in keeping North Union’s batters on their toes. Her mix of pitches and location changes proved to be a key factor. She finished with seven strikeouts, two of which came against Deim with runners on base.

But Brechwald can’t take the total credit for harnessing this potent offense. The Midgets’ defense played a clean game. North Union was able to strike well-hit softballs throughout the contest. And every time it happened, ELC had a player ready to make a play. Even the game-ending out from Alivia Crees in right field was an impressive catch on the run.

“They made some plays that a lot of teams don’t make,” Kim Price said. “[ELC] robbed some hits. We even hit some really hard balls, probably three or four, right at someone. And sometimes that’s the way it goes.”

Most of the Warriors’ offense came from Shallie Walders’ help. Walders scored the night’s initial run in the first after rounding third on Maisey Bierstedt’s bloop single that found grass in right field.

The catcher drove in Ainsley Ulrich two more times in the third and seventh innings amid North Union’s comeback effort, first with an infield hit, then with a towering two-run home run to left field.

Even if the Warriors managed to string together a few more runs, it wouldn’t have mattered. A mix of errors and miscues from its defense helped ELC to a handful of additional runs that built up their lead.

Marissa Nielsen got the start for Kim Price and did a solid job, striking out three in the first. After she allowed the game-tying run in the second with four free bases, the Midgets tacked on three more runs, aided by North Union’s infield errors. It was 4-1 after two frames.

Nielsen’s night ended midway through the third inning. Another error continued the inning rather than completing the third out. Arianna Beekman took advantage moments later, ripping a two-out RBI single to extend ELC’s lead.

Ulrich got out of the inning after finishing the final out. She tossed the remaining four frames and struck out six. They scored four runs while Ulrich was in the circle, one in the fourth and three in the seventh. This came with the help of North Union struggling to field cleanly.

“With five runs, we could still win a game,” Kim Price said. “But they wouldn’t have had nine runs if we didn’t have so many errors. We had too many errors, and that’s what did it.”

Wednesday’s contest against the Golden Bears will start at 7:00 p.m. at the North Union Middle School softball field in Swea City. The winner of this takes on either Newell-Fonda or Gehlen Catholic on Friday, also at the same time.