LANGLEY — The fifth inning was magic for the South Whidbey girls fastpitch team on Wednesday.

The girls scored five runs to seal a 7-2 victory over the Lady Turks from Sultan.

But this day’s star had to be Falcon thrower Katy Piehler, who put on a fine pitching clinic for the Sultan girls, striking out seven batters and only allowing a single walk. Her hitting wasn’t too bad, either; she went 2-for-3, and fired two doubles and an RBI.

“The Lady Turks played a good game tonight, but everyone on our team can hit, as you saw,” Piehler said.

She wasn’t alone. South Whidbey players had 16 hits, five doubles and a triple.

The game began with Sultan scoring a run in the second inning.

“We tied things up with a run in the second,” Falcon rookie coach Don Wood said. “We added another in the third, but it was the fifth that took us over the top.”

With one out, Alex Kubeska led the Falcons with a single, followed by a Kelsie Dorpat single.

Alannah Alber doubled and brought in two runs. Chantal White then hit a double, scoring Dorpat and Alber. Piehler came up and hit a double, putting runners at second and third, followed by Brittany Wood hitting a double into center field that scored White and Maddie Hamilton, Piehler’s courtesy runner.

“Two more well-hit fly balls were caught to end the inning,” Wood said. “Sultan made a last-ditch effort and scored once in the sixth to make it 7-2 at the end.”

One or two hitters doesn’t make a good team, Wood said.

Falcon Allison Wood went 3-for-4 with a single, a double and a triple; Kubeska did the same; White went 2-for-3 with a single, a double, an RBI, and scored twice; Brittany Wood went 2-for-3 and a couple of RBIs; Alber had a double with two RBIs and Nikki Parra and Melanie Murphy each contributed an RBI.

Piehler credited pitching coach Ashley Lopez for her improvement on the mound this season.

“She told me that in order to get more speed on the ball, I needed a long arm and increase the amount of ‘body language’ I use when I throw,” she said. “That, plus more consistency, has helped me this year.”

Alber said having a new coach hasn’t hurt the team — quite the contrary.

“A lot of us worked with Coach Wood in Little League or select teams; he knows us and we know him,” she said. “That’s why we’ve done a little better than expected.”

South Whidbey is fourth in the league at 6-6 and 6-7 overall. At the top, Granite Falls remains undefeated at 12-0 (and has clinched the first playoff berth), followed by Archbishop Murphy and Cedarcrest.

At 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 5, the Falcon girls welcome Lakewood to the softball field.