WHITEHOUSE — In a showdown between two previously undefeated Northern Lakes League Buckeye Division softball teams, Anthony Wayne pulled away with a 7-3 victory over visiting Perrysburg Thursday.

“We just didn’t make enough plays on defense and did not come up with enough clutch hits, and they made more plays on D than us and they got more clutch hits than us,” Perrysburg coach Ryan DeMars said.

AW, ranked third in the Division I state coaches’ poll, remains unbeaten at 8-0 overall and 5-0 in the NLL, while Perrysburg falls to 10-2 and 3-1.

However, it was Perrysburg that got off to the better start, scoring two runs in the top of the first, thanks to an inside the park home run by the speedy Jess Miller.

Morgan Hoverman opened the game by reaching on a four-pitch walk, she stole second, and went to third on a passed ball. That’s when Miller did her thing.

Miller hit a hard liner to right field, and AW outfielder Abby Ziegler dove for it, the ball caught part of her mitt, deflected and went into foul territory, reaching the outfield corner where the fences meet.

Miller was already rounding third base and heading home when the throw from the outfield was thrown into third baseman Megan Sumner.

Perrysburg did add another run, thanks to two AW errors, in the fifth inning, but it was not enough as AW’s defense locked in for the final two innings, robbing Perrysburg hitters of three potential hits.

“We recovered from a play in right field that was misjudged and also a play that we didn’t really cover up very well on a tag that led to three runs by Perrysburg,” AW coach Ron Meyers said.

It was the play of AW junior pitcher Molly Conner, committed to the University of Notre Dame, both in the circle and at the plate, that was too much for the Yellow Jackets.

In the circle, Conner went the distance, striking out seven, walking just one (Hoverman), allowing three hits and two earned runs. The plan was not for her to go the distance, but plans change.

“We had a game plan today where Molly wasn’t actually going the whole game,” Myers said. “She was throwing well. We were planning on having Kat Meyers come in and relieve her, but Molly had the fire going today so we decided to stick with her for the duration of the game.”

At the plate, Conner hit a two-run homer that cleared the center field wall by over a dozen feet, giving AW a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning that the Generals would never relinquish. Conner reached on three of her four plate appearances and had two stolen bases.

This is an AW team that has already established itself with four seniors already signed to play at the NCAA Division I level.

Kat Meyers is heading to Michigan, Ally Meyers and Abbie Kennelly are heading to Ohio, and Trinity Nowicki will play softball at Kennesaw State.

Ally Meyers went 3-for-3 with a double and four RBIs, Kat Meyers hit a double and also reached on all three plate apperances, and Megan Sumner had a double and scored twice for the Generals, which had eight hits.

Getting singles for Perrysburg were Hayley Griggs and Ella Leonard, who reached base twice. Alyssa Bradford had a sacrifice bunt advancing Leonard in the third and allowing her to score when Hoverman reached on an error.

Maison Gerrard started in the circle for Perrysburg, lasting 4.1 innings, and Maddie Von Sacken closed the game in relief.