GREEN MOUNTAIN — The GMG batting order had a new look, and it also had the effect head coach Lexie Farrell was looking for.

Sophomore Riah Boege singled home batterymate Skyler Murty as the game’s only run in the bottom of the fourth inning as the GMG softball team took down BCLUW 1-0 in Monday’s Iowa Star Conference South Division showdown.

The previous five meetings between the two teams were decided by three or fewer runs, meaning scoring opportunities were going to paramount in a battle between two of the area’s top pitchers.

GMG (6-12, 5-8) capitalized on the only real chance it had, while BCLUW (6-8, 6-4) came up empty time and time again.

The Comets stranded eight of their nine baserunners while another was caught stealing as the young squad couldn’t make the key play to match the moment.

The host Wolverines had just three baserunners the entire game, but a timely hit made all the difference.

“I think confidence,” GMG head coach Lexie Farrell said. “We’ve lacked it in the past, and when we played [BCLUW] earlier this season we lost by one run in eight innings. So I think the girls went into this game knowing they could hang with BCLUW.”

Not long after the Comets missed their first chance to take the lead, GMG pounced on its lone opportunity.

BCLUW’s No. 9 hitter Malaya Wallace reached with a one-out walk, took second on a sacrifice bunt by Leila Wedgwood, but didn’t get a good jump when Eden Ladehoff hit a single to right field. BCLUW head coach Megan Yantis wanted to send her freshman homeward, but it was ill-fated.

“Honestly, just those little things like baserunning,” Yantis said. “There’s two outs and I think maybe we would have gotten a score on one of those hits. I think we had more runners on than they did and we just weren’t able to finish and execute.

“Again, we’re young, we’re learning in tight ballgames, high-pressure games, but I feel like we did a great job. We made the plays we needed to, but I figured it was going to be a pretty tight game, and both pitchers pitched great.”

Ladehoff struck out 11– eight in a row at one point — and walked only one, but that ended up being GMG’s lone run. Murty walked to lead off the fourth, stole second on an 0-2 count after two failed sacrifice bunt attempts by Grace Mathern, and took third on a passed ball. Moments later, Boege lashed a line drive through the left side of the infield to plate the game’s only run.

“I knew I had to get it,” Murty said of her stolen base, “so we could score.”

Farrell said the situation was the one the Wolverines anticipated when they rearranged their batting order, taking Boege out of the leadoff spot to give her a chance to drive in runs.

“We knew that Riah would hit off of her,” Farrell said. “She hit a home run off her the last game, and I was confident in her being able to hit Ladehoff again. So we rearranged it … and I had faith in Skyler getting on base.”

Boege’s hit was one of only two the Wolverines got against Ladehoff. Murty hit a one-out single in the bottom of the sixth but was left stranded.

Boege struck out 13 and walked three, but the GMG defense avoided the critical mistakes defensively and got just enough offense. The Comets had five hits, but Ladehoff and three and Brooke Ward had two.

Ladehoff twice singled with runners on base, but neither Comet came around to score.

“She pitched perfect,” Murty, the catcher, said of Boege.

Eighth-grader Hannah Peters made a juggling catch in left field to retire Leila Wedgwood for the second out in the top of the seventh, and Mathern caught Ladehoff’s fly ball to center to end the game.

“We just really wanted to work together as a team and back each other up and play for each other to get the win,” said Boege. “We knew they were a super-good team and they have a good pitcher, so we worked in the (batting) cage.”

BCLUW’s right fielder Wallace made an impressive catch in foul territory to end any further GMG scoring threat in the fourth, crashing into the chain-link fence to snare Natalie Upah’s fly ball.

“We wanted to win, we want those games, but it is what it is,” Yantis said. “It’s a ballgame. We’re out here for each other, make sure we stay out here being positive to each other, and tomorrow’s another day.”

The Comets visit Janesville on Tuesday, while GMG visits Belle Plaine in non-conference play.

The Wolverines should be riding high after their first win over BCLUW in “I don’t know how long,” according to Farrell.

“It’s been a while,” she said. “I’m so proud of the girls.”