A strong performance by Alicia Nitzschke went to waste Friday as the Remsen-Union softball team fell to West Sioux 3-1 on the road in non-conference action.

Nitzschke - a Briar Cliff recruit - tossed six innings of two-hit ball, striking out nine and walking just one. Unfortunately, the Lady Rockets were unable to back Nitzschke in the field or at the plate.

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"Alicia pitched a great game," R-U coach Heather Youde said. "Defensively we weren't very good and we couldn't get runs for her. That's what it came down to. We had some really bad errors they scored on."

West Sioux had just one earned run on the night and both Falcon hits belonged to Sam Engelman.

Whitney Postma picked up the win for West Sioux, allowing one run on five hits with six strikeouts.

Brittany Ruden led R-U with a pair of singles, while Tasha Wurth, Jeana Pick and Kelsey Gries added base hits.

"(Postma) had decent speed, but not the blazing speed we were used to from the Maple Valley game," Youde said. "She just got us to ground out a lot."

The Lady Rockets were in Mapleton Thursday for the Maple Valley Conference opener, falling to host Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto 9-6.

The bats were better in the loss to the Rams, but the defense had one bat inning that allowed MVAO to pull away.

"It was a 2-1 ballgame forever," Youde said. "It just came down to that really bad sixth inning that we couldn't seem to get out of. We had a couple walks and a couple errors. If it wasn't for that one inning, we would have had them."

R-U led 2-0 after the third and trailed just 3-2 heading into the sixth, then gave up six runs in the bottom of the frame. Down 9-2, the Lady Rockets plated four in the top of the seventh but could not complete the comeback.

Nitzschke went the distance, allowing 9 runs on 11 hits with four walks and no strikeouts.

"They hit the ball very well," Youde said of MVAO. "We played great defense behind her until the sixth. Otherwise it would have been a great game. It was a good five-inning game for us."

Ruden led R-U at the plate Thursday as well, going 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs. Pick was 3-for-4 with an RBI, Cassie Stoos was 3-for-4 and Wurth 1-for-4.

R-U (1-2, 0-1) will return to play in the MVC Tuesday on the road at Class 2A No. 11-ranked Battle Creek/Ida Grove.

"That will be a good game, a hard game," Youde said. "They still have Chancey (Wilcke) there and she's a great pitcher. It will be a challenge."