Defense and pitching were the story of the night as the Atlantic Trojans defeated the Treynor Cardinals 3-1 Wednesday night. Peyton McLaren was excellent on the mound, and despite Treynor matching Atlantic’s level of play for much of the contest, the Trojan bats eventually broke through, allowing the defense to shut the door for their 23rd win of the season.

As expected, the pitching matchup was superb. Both McLaren and Treynor’s Delaney Matthews came in with a sub-two ERA and did not disappoint. Both were efficient, allowing just a single baserunner through the first two innings. Meanwhile, the Trojan defense did its part. Claire Schroeder made numerous diving catches at third base, including one off a bunt and another in foul territory. While the defense excelled, the bats would break through in the third.

After Jillian Saathoff led off with a single, McKenna Sonntag (Atlantic’s lone senior) came through with an RBI double to give the Trojans the lead on senior night. Lila Wiederstein drove in Sonntag in the next at bat to give the Trojans some breathing room before the inning came to an end. Atlantic would find in the fifth as a Makenna Schroeder single was brought in by a Kirchhoff sac-fly to push the lead to 3-0.

McLaren and the defense continued to shut down Treynor through the rest of the game. Through 6.2 innings, the only blemish on McLaren was a result of an error and she retired 16 in a row. Down to their last out Adalyn Minahan picked up Treynor’s first hit and was driven in by an Elyese Winchell double. However, with another great defensive play, Wiederstein would back-pick Winchell at second base to end the ballgame. Head coach Terry Hinzmann was complimentary of his defense’s ability to rebound.

There was lots of praise to go around for Sonntag on senior night.

As the playoffs are fast approaching the focus for the Trojans remain on winning their remaining conference matchups.

The win moves Atlantic to 23-12 as they will have a quick turnaround with a double header against St. Albert Thursday morning. After that, the Trojans have just two games remaining before their opening round matchup against Harlan.