No matter who stepped up against Olivia McEwen, the Widefield junior sat them down. And, on the occasion when The Classical Academy connected on one of McEwen’s pitches, the Gladiators’ defense literally and figuratively had her back.

Widefield beat The Classical Academy 7-0 at home and McEwen allowed one hit and earned 13 strikeouts, her second game this season with 10 or more strikeouts. The Gladiators’ victory against TCA moved Widefield to 13-0 all-time against 3A’s No. 2-ranked Titans.

“They’re a really good team and I try to bring my ‘A’ game against them,” McEwen said. “They have good players like Taytum (Kimbro) and Ada (Wilson) and I try to go out and do my job, have my defense support me and do what I know I can do.”

McEwen allowed just one hit, which occurred in the fourth inning. Taytum Kimbro hit a double to reach scoring position for the Titans, who trailed the Gladiators 2-0. The following at-bat, Ada Wilson reached first on an error and the Titans had the chance to tie the contest or take the lead with Ava Fluegge up next.

“Defense wins games and I keep telling the girls the other team can’t beat us if they don’t score,” Widefield coach Nick Leonard said. “When Liv is on, there’s nobody better. She’s taken a step forward this year trusting the defense behind her to make plays. The big difference this year is that after errors these girls support each other. … It sucks making an error, but they support each other and they pick each other up quickly.”

Emphasis on “quickly.” Following the Widefield error, Fluegge sent a shot into center field. But Susy Salvidrez bolted to the ball to make the catch for the out. Salvidrez then recognized Kimbro left early, fired the ball to second and completed the double play to put two outs on the board.

“I knew (Ava) was going to hit the ball because she’s a really good hitter,” Salvidrez said. “I was ready for everything and I knew I could make it to the ball.”

McEwen said she was proud of Salvidrez’s effort demonstrated on the play to keep runs from scoring in the fourth.

“I low-key thought it was going to drop, but Susy low-key had speed on that one,” McEwen said. “I saw Taytum leave early but I knew our defense knew what to do. I wasn’t scared at all.”

Widefield made it 3-0 after Madalyn Mitchell hit an RBI double that sent Savanna Mitton home. The Gladiators tacked on two runs apiece in the fifth and sixth innings to give them seven runs for the game. Trinity Horsch finished with a game-high three RBIs and had two in the bottom of the fifth when she sent McEwen and Evelyn Ibarra home on an RBI single.

“This was a big win and they play us tough every year,” Leonard said. “They have talented pitchers and great hitters. We played perfectly and I couldn’t ask for more. We do a lot of scouting and watch a lot of film. We prepare very hard and do everything we can to be ready.”

The Titans will face Florence on Tuesday while Widefield prepares for a home-and-home against Falcon, 4A’s No. 1 ranked team.

“They’re a very talented team and they have a great program over there,” Leonard said. “They’ve been building for a while and we knew Falcon was coming. We prepare hard all week so when we come out on game day, we can do everything we have to do and see where our talent takes us from there.”