The Hillcrest Ravens showed some improvement at the plate, in the circle, and in the field during a 9-0 loss to Winfield-Mt. Union on Tuesday. 

The Lady Wolves (8-1) scored four runs and had the bases loaded with one out in the first when the Raven defense stepped up its effort. 

Leah Bontrager got a big strikeout and after a run scored on a passed ball, the Ravens got a groundout to the shortstop to end the inning. 

WMU would not score again until the seventh inning. 

Esther Hughes made diving catches to rob WMU of hits in the second and third innings. 

“I think we built confidence with Esther out there in center field, making some really key plays for us early on,” Hillcrest coach Kent Blossom said. 

“And then that transferred down to our infield and helped Leah out — and I thought she built confidence as the game went on. You could see her snap on her fastballs a little bit more than what we’ve seen this year so far. I’m just happy for them to kind of experience that success, in that middle half of the game.”

The Raven batters faced a tough challenge in WMU senior Madie Anderson, who has over 100 strikeouts in nine games this year. The Indian Hills Community College commit has an earned run average of 0.50 and has allowed just 26 hits in 56 innings. 

Malia Yoder broke up Anderson’s no-hitter with a single to right field in the fourth inning. Meredith Blossom hit a ground ball into right field in the seventh. 

Yoder also drew a walk and Madeline Fox walked once as well. 

“You see the numbers that (Anderson) is putting up this year so far, it's pretty incredible,” Blossom said. “Our approach was fairly simple — try to hit good pitches. Adnd we didn't do that at times, but we just continued to battle. I was excited for Malia, an incoming freshman, to get on the first hit off of her, and for Meredith Blossom to come in and get another one for us too. 

Overall, I'm good with the at bats, and we'll win some games down the road with this type of performance.”

The Ravens worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning, but WMU was able to capitalize on a single and double to leadoff the seventh. 

It was the first time all season that the Ravens had allowed fewer than a dozen runs in a game.