The South Whidbey fast-pitch softball team advanced to third place in the Cascade Conference on the strength of its 8-1 victory over Cedarcrest on Monday and 3-1 win over Lakewood on Wednesday.

“We’ve had two solid pitching performances from Katy [Piehler] this week so far,” said Falcon coach Don Wood. “Against the Red Wolves, everyone had a solid hitting day and only gave up two errors on defense to get Katy the win.”

Two days later, the Cougars were stunned by Piehler’s performance, as she cruised to her second shutout/no-hitter of the year, striking out five batters and only giving up three walks.

“The girls gave Katy an excellent defensive performance, highlighted by a shoestring catch by Zoey Maeser in right field,” Wood said. “She rolled to the ground, then threw from her knees to Melanie Murphy to get the Lakewood runner returning to first base for the force out. This was a key double play to end the sixth inning.”

Falcon runs came in the third, with Murphy walking, Alex Kubeska doubling her in, and Kelsie Dorpat walking to put two on. Then Alannah Alber doubled to the left-field fence, scoring Kubeska and Dorpat.