Norwalk junior Olivia Dougherty came within two outs of a complete-game shutout on Monday night, pitching a five-hitter to lead the Class 4A 2nd-ranked Warrior softball team past Pella Christian 7-2 in Norwalk. The game was streamed live on kniakrls.com (KNIA3).

Dougherty, now 6-1 on the season, outdueled Eagles’ sophomore Emma Eekhoff, who allowed 11 singles in six innings. Dougherty issued just one walk and had nine K’s, striking out the side in the fifth. Pella Christian’s Claire Westerkamp broke up the shutout with an RBI single in the seventh and scored on Maddy Van Zee’s RBI groundout.

Norwalk slowly chipped away for their seven runs, scoring twice in the third inning and adding a three-spot in the sixth. Both rallies started with consecutive singles by Bailey Birmingham, Nyah Hulbert and Jaylynn Brandt.

Norwalk coach Beau Livingston tells KNIA-KRLS Sports that the Warriors started a bit sluggish, but he liked the way his team consistently hit the ball hard on the ground and stayed aggressive on the base paths. Livingston was also pleased by the way Dougherty worked out of trouble. In three of the first four innings, Pella Christian put their leadoff batter in scoring position with nobody out, but Dougherty escaped unscathed each time.

“That’s the nice part about having strikeout pitchers,” Livingston said. “Our top two [Dougherty and Zadie Wadle] are strikeout pitchers, so even when the other team gets runners in scoring position, we always have the ability to strike girls out when we need them. It helps save runs, and those add up over time.”

Hulbert led Norwalk at the plate, going 3-for-4 with three stolen bases and two runs scored. Brandt had two hits and two RBI while Birmingham singled twice and scored two runs. For Pella Christian, Emri Agre was 1-for-2 with a walk, two steals and a run scored. Brynn Roozeboom added a double.

The Eagles are now 6-14 overall and 2-8 in the Little Hawkeye Conference. They will play a varsity doubleheader at Grinnell on Wednesday at 5:30. The Warriors improved to 12-4 overall and 7-2 in conference play. They travel to Dowling Catholic today for a varsity doubleheader at 5:00.