NORTH ROBINSON — Mohawk had a rested arm and made necessary adjustments in a game that was remarkably different than one played against Colonel Crawford 72 hours earlier.

The Warriors defeated the Lady Eagles 3-1 in a softball showdown between Northern 10 Athletic Conference heavyweights here Monday night. The Lady Eagles won 16-0 last Friday in Sycamore.

“We were just able to make the necessary adjustments at the plate and put the ball in play tonight. That was the huge difference. We did not hit on Friday like I know we can,” said Mohawk coach Mindy Walton.

“Tonight was a much better show of that and it makes me feel that much more confident moving toward tournament time because the pitcher we saw tonight is hands-down probably one of the best pitchers in the state,” she said of Lauren Frietchen.

The N10’s top two pitchers — Frietchen (10-2) and Mohawk’s Bailey Sheets (13-3) — put on a pitching clinic for much of the game. Sheets struck out 5 with no walks and Frietchen had 12 Ks and one base on balls.

Crawford struck early with a solo home run to center field by Kaylyn Risner in the first inning and held that lead until the sixth inning.

Colonel Crawford (15-3, 10-1) coach Sarah Fraser said her team didn’t play well.

“Defensively, we just weren’t there tonight. We knew they were going to come in and it was going to be a good ball game. Defensively and in the box we just weren’t ready. They wanted it a little bit more than we did.”

The Lady Eagles entered the game as the 10th-ranked Division III team in this week’s poll.

“We talked about the situation, and this is the same thing that happened last year,” Fraser said. “We beat them over at their place and they came here and just got it done.”

Fraser thought Sheets was well rested in the rematch.

“She was busting the outside corner, which was different from what she did, and clearly we are not that great there. We played really good defensively Friday and tonight they were able to do that and also hit some hard shots. That’s a credit to them.”

The Warriors plated three runs in the top of the sixth thanks largely to a pair of fielding errors. With runners on first and second, Brooklen Helton laid down a bunt that the Lady Eagles mishandled allowing the tying run to score.

Another run scored following a walk and an error. Risner stifled the rally with a diving grab at second base and throw to first for a double play, but the third Mohawk run scored on the play.

Sheets admitted her team played better behind her and at the plate on Monday night.

“Last week we just had a lot of errors, and we weren’t really ourselves. We just made the adjustment in the box and come back ready,” she said.

Walton said Sheets and her teammates finally got some rest and were focused.

“We were coming off three games prior to last week and then we played Friday. Prom was also Saturday, and we all know how girls like to think about prom; so, we may have had other things on our mind. She was relaxed and herself tonight,” she said.

The Warriors came out bunting, using a small-ball approach. “I kind of changed that strategy in the beginning just because I wanted the girls to see the pitches coming in to them,” Walton said.

“I also wanted to see how well they could field the bunt. We weren’t able to get the bunt down last time and I thought if we could kind of break the ice in the first inning, get some people on base that might give us some confidence moving forward.”

In that inning the Warriors loaded the bases, but Frietchen struck out the next three batters. She only faced 14 batters in innings two through five.

“I give props to my girls on the bases. They were heads-up on the bases. Any time there was any kind of bobble on the ball, they were on to the next base,” Walton said. “They were listening to my signs and were just excellent at base running.”

Mohawk (13-4, 8-2) has a day off until it visits Carey, which upset Upper Sandusky. Carey visits Crawford on Tuesday before they head to Upper Sandusky on Wednesday.

“We’d like to think that the loss will help them,” Fraser said. “They can either choose to buy in and get it done and use this as a motivator, or they can sulk and play pity poor me. That’s on them. I would like to think this would be a heck of a motivator going on.”

With the upcoming slate of games, the Lady Eagles need to put the loss behind them.

“We are going to have to have a very short memory. We talk about that and that will be part of our post-game talk that we have.”

Box score

Mohawk                      000 003 0       3       7      0

Colonel Crawford   100 000 0       1       4      2

WP: Bailey Sheets (5 SO, 0 W)

LP: Lauren Frietchen (12 SO, 1 W)

HR: (CC) Kaylyn Risner (solo, first inning).

Triples: None.

Doubles: (M) Lauren Moyer.

Multiple hits: (M) Bailey Sheets 3. Lauren Moyer; (CC) Harley Thomas.

Records: Mohawk 13-4, 8-2 N10; Colonel Crawford 15-3, 10-1 N10.

Next: Mohawk at Carey, Wednesday; Carey at Colonel Crawford, Tuesday.