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Holmen High School junior and No. 2 pitcher Lauren Schaller is a pretty tough self-critic. After no-hitting Onalaska 3-0 Monday, she was more concerned about the four walks and six wild pitches she allowed.

While Schaller showed bouts of wildness in the first 3 2/3 innings, she settled in nicely in the second half of the game, allowing just one walk and no wild pitches. Most of the Hilltoppers threats to get hits came on eight fly ball outs, though outfielders Allie Dienger in left, Kylee Siolka in center and Kate Shefelbine in right each made at least one running catch.

Onalaska's hardest hit ball was a Hailee Schanke line drive with one out in the sixth, but third baseman Kayla Oliver snared the ball head high. Schaller said her last no-hitter came in middle school.

“I thought it was 12-and-under again,” Schaller said. “It wasn't my day, but I'm glad we won. I'm capable of more.”

Schaller was overpowering at times. Only one of the 16 balls the Hilltoppers put in play went to the pull field. Schanke's line drive. Schaller said she throws a fastball, change-up, dropball and riser.

“I have some natural rising movement, too, but not many of those were called today,” Schaller said. “I want to be more consistent than I was today. Normally I'm able to command my dropball pretty well.”

Each of Onalaska's walks in the first four innings resulted in runners advancing to third after two wild pitches. But two of them came with two outs, with Schaller getting two of her six strikeouts after a leadoff walk and two wild pitches in the third.

Holmen got two hits and heads-up baserunning to score in the third. Bennett blooped a single to right and stole second to get into scoring position. Anna Medinger followed by beating out a ground ball to short for an infield hit, with Bennett never hesistating rounding third and scoring standing without a play.

The Vikings finally got some breathing room for Schaller in the sixth. Medinger reached on a two-base error and Marissa Fraser singled, with Schaller following with a sacrifice fly to left. Fraser, who moved to third in the sequence after the Hilltoppers missed two cut-off men, scored on an Oliver single to center.

Schaller had a rare hitless day. Schaller takes somewhat of an unusual approach in the batter's box, standing at the absolute front of the box. Her positioning also comes with movement that has more moving parts than normal.

“No matter who the pitcher is, I get up in the box so I can hit the breaking pitch before it breaks,” Schaller said. “I'm still able to adjust to the speed of the faster pitchers O.K.”

With the win, HHS remained atop the Mississippi Valley Conference. Schaller also was a part of last year's club, which finished one game out in the league and one game short of a Division 1 state berth.

“We want to finish the rest of the conference season without a loss,” Schaller said. “Every team's goal is to get to state and some of us didn't think we'd be close to doing that again this year. But we're a good practice team and beating what we did last year is good motivation.”

Holmen lost its first league game May 1, a 7-5 decision at Central. Kallie Mechling took the loss despite a three-run homer from Schaller and the Vikings leaving runners at second and third with one out in the seventh, though HHS caught a bad break when Fraser lined to second for the inning's second out.

Fraser squeezed home Siolka with the winning run in Tuesday's 3-2 win over Logan. Siolka had reached on an error to begin the bottom of the seventh and advanced to second with a head-first slide, before being sacrificed to third by Medinger. Fraser's bunt was fielded and flipped to home by Rangers pitcher Michelle Mueller, but the catcher couldn't handle the throw.

“(The suicide squeeze) is a hard play to defend unless you bunt the ball pretty poorly,” Holmen head coach Mark Wall said. “With only 60 feet to go, you can be 40 or 45 feet down the line by the time the fielder fields the ball.”

Logan had tied the game in the top half after a single, Mechling's only walk of the game with two outs and a double to right center. Rangers coach and Holmen resident Ron Sunne elected to hold the trail runner at third, with the inning ending on a ground out to Oliver at third. Oliver is playing third in part because of an injury to Galstad, with her status for today's make-up game at Onalaska not available as of the Courier deadline.

The Vikings took the lead in the fourth on a Mechling single and Shefelbine hit batsmen, with Laura Krings reaching on an error. Shefelbine was moved up after batting lower in the order as recently as the April 29 game at Aquinas.

“She's been making decent contact,” Wall said. “She's becoming more consistent.”

Postseason positioning for HHS will be determined Wedneday when seeding meetings are conducted. Holmen could be as low as the No. 3 seed with state-ranked Madison Memorial and Baraboo also in their seven-team grouping.