Staff photo / Brian Yauger. Mathews senior Ashia Pate fires a pitch during the Mustangs’ 4-2 victory over Maplewood on Wednesday. Pate finished the evening in the circle, closing out the game.

JOHNSTON — In a battle of the NAC’s standard bearer and the young up-and-comer, the old guard held on.

Mathews continued its run through the regular season with a 4-2 victory over Maplewood on Wednesday.

“(Maplewood coach Jessica Urchek) has got a really, really good young bunch over there,” Mathews coach Jim Nicula said. “A generational pitcher that’s only going to get better, but (we’re) a veteran team with eight seniors and seven juniors, and they were ready to go.”

Maplewood’s ace in the circle, Addison Marker, has feasted on opposing hitters all season. Entering Wednesday’s game, Marker has struck out 119 batters through 57 innings.

The experienced Mathews lineup was able to get quality contact which led to runs in each of the first four innings.

“Nobody’s hit her like that all year long,” Nicula said. “She’s used to getting a bunch of strikeouts a game. … We hit the heck out of the ball, so we made a statement there. Even though a bunch of those (hits) were caught, we had a really good day at the plate.”

However, Maplewood pushed back. Marker and the Rockets kept Mathews off the scoreboard for the final three innings on defense, and pushed the Mustangs’ defense to the brink, loading the bases in the fifth.

Mathews limited them to two runs during the contest however.

The Rockets fall to 12-3 on the season, suffering their first league loss of the year. While Maplewood wants to win, games like this serve as a measuring stick. The Rockets are aiming toward the future while being as successful as they can now.

“I came in here just wanting to play a competitive game,” Urchek said. “They start eight seniors and one junior. I have four freshmen on the field, including in the circle. I start one senior in my offense and two seniors in my defense. We’re working toward the future. The seniors are invaluable leadership-wise, and they’re willing to take a step back to put (the younger kids) in front.”

While the Rockets are looking toward the future, that doesn’t mean they’re just sitting around waiting. Maplewood has been proactive this season in setting itself up for future success as a program, and it all starts with facing fast pitchers.

“We definitely have to get used to some faster pitching, tonight was a good example of that,” Urchek said. “We struggled a little bit with the speed of their pitchers, but in the latter part of the game, we definitely picked it up a notch. We’re looking to get a good seed in the tournament and hopefully make it to the district final and make it out of districts. Three teams will come out (of districts in Division VII), so we’re hoping to be one of them.”

Maplewood is scheduled to travel to Badger on Friday for another league battle.

The Mustangs have been able to platoon their pitchers more this season much to the team’s benefit. Both Olivia Matheny and Ashia Pate are more than capable starters, pitching complete games routinely, but Nicula has been able to bring out whoever didn’t start the game to finish it.

Battling heat and some long innings, Matheny was swapped out for Pate, who closed on Wednesday.

“The biggest thing we have this year that we (haven’t had as much in years past) is a good one-two punch (in the circle),” Nicula said. “Both of them are in their own right. Sometimes we struggle a little bit and bringing one in to close something out (works) like tonight. Ashia was just lights out coming in and throwing strikes and taking care of what she needs. … It was really nice having somebody that can come in and continue.”

The Mustangs (15-3) are set to play their traditional turf tune-up game today on the road against Berea-Midpark. Mathews and Maplewood are set to meet again next Friday.