Fredonia freshman Naomi Muck singled and scored the game’s only run in the bottom of the fifth inning and the Hillbillies cut down the potential tying run in the top of the seventh en route to a 1-0 victory.

“That’s playoff-atmosphere softball, which is what we need,” Fredonia head coach Jesse Beers said. “We need this to get ready for the playoffs.”

The win puts Fredonia two games clear of Falconer and Olean for first place in the league at 8-0 overall and 7-0 in CCAA Division 1 West. The Golden Falcons fell to 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the league.

“We were in the exact same boat last year and we did end up being co-champions of the league, so I don’t feel that it’s out of reach,” Falconer head coach Kayleigh Sieber said. “We’ve got to earn it. We show up every day knowing that anybody can win on any given day, and you just have to give your best outing.”

Falconer’s Katrina Schrantz makes a running catch in left field during Tuesday’s CCAA Division 1 West game against Fredonia at Fredonia High School. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

Hillbillies senior ace Jordan Lucas was dominant again in the circle. She threw a two-hitter with 13 strikeouts and no walks, allowing just four Falconer batters to reach base.

“I thought they had much better at-bats today than they did the first time around against us” Beers said of the Golden Falcons. ” … I think it was a little bit more of a team effort, as opposed to just (Lucas) carrying the load.”

Falconer sophomore Emily Rhinehart nearly matched Lucas pitch for pitch, carrying a no-hitter into the fifth inning before settling for a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts while walking five and hitting two batters.

“The strikeouts might not come as easily for Emily, she’s not going to overpower you,” Sieber said, ” … but Emily is going to mix the ball, she’s going to move the ball, she’s going to hit her spots.”

Muck broke up that no-hitter with a leadoff single up the middle in the bottom of the fifth inning. She then stole second before junior Danielle Palisin’s two-out single fell in front of the Golden Falcons left fielder and Muck beat a throw to the plate.

“It was great to get the leadoff hitter on, especially toward the bottom of our order,” Beers said of Muck. “She’s been pretty steady all year. She puts the bat on the ball and she doesn’t strike out a lot.”

Lucas, who had walked, and Palisin ended up at second and third on the play, and Rhinehart hit the next batter, but got out of the inning with her 10th strikeout of the day.

“You have to tip your cap to Emily Rhinehart. She’s crafty,” Beers said. “She has a couple of different pitches, she spins it, she moves it and she can locate it as well.”

The run proved to be enough for Fredonia, which left two runners on in the first inning and the bases loaded in both the fourth and fifth innings.

“We have to have better productive outs when we get those runners on,” Beers said. ” … We left a small village on the basepaths today.”

Falconer did not go quietly in the top of the seventh inning. Rhinehart dropped down a bunt to open the inning and reached when the Hillbillies’ throw was high to first base. Sophomore Hannah Melquist then dropped down a sacrifice bunt and Rhinehart ended up at third on the play when Fredonia was late covering the bag.

“We’re not afraid to fail. We don’t show up and play to not make mistakes, we show and play to win,” Sieber said. “Even when it doesn’t go our way, we really put it all out there.”

Sophomore Mylie Zaranek followed with another bunt, which was fielded by Lucas in front of the pitcher’s circle. She then flipped the ball home to freshman catcher Callie Draggett, who tagged out Rhinehart to preserve the 1-0 score.

“The girls need to feel a little bit of pressure and I thought we handled that pressure, defensively, well today,” Beers said. ” … They had some runners in scoring position early and when you have Jordan on the hill, that doesn’t happen all that often. … It shows us that we can make those plays.”

With two outs and Zaranek on first base, Lucas induced a grounder to Muck, who threw across the diamond for the final out.

“Kudos to them for putting a rally together with the top of their order,” Beers said. “They had their table set, they just couldn’t push one across.”

Falconer will host nonleague Gowanda on Friday before another league game at home Saturday against Southwestern. Fredonia will put its perfect overall and league records on the line Thursday at Allegany-Limestone.

“I’m super impressed with my kids; they came out here today with the confidence that you need to be able to really show up and play hard all seven innings with a great team,” Sieber said. ” … I think we really came out and showed everybody what we’re made of.”

NOTES: Melquist doubled with one out in the first inning and junior Katrina Schrantz singled to lead off the second inning for Falconer’s only hits. … Schrantz made a nice running catch of a ball hit by Draggett for the first out of the fourth inning. … Muck made a nice play on a grounder that deflected off senior third baseman Jaelyn Davis to throw out Zaranek for the second out of the fourth inning.