Photo by Kim North Linsly’s Baleigh Burwell works to the plate Tuesday against Bellaire. The junior struck out 15, walked two and scattered five singles in a 2-0 victory at Holloway Field in Wheeling.

WHEELING — Although the temperature was hovering in the 40s Tuesday afternoon, Linsly’s Baleigh Burwell was red-hot inside the circle as she hurled the Cadets to their second straight softball victory.

The junior struck out a career-high 15 and didn’t allow a runner past second in a 2-0 shutout of visiting Bellaire at chill-filled Holloway Field.

“She pitched an outstanding game,” Linsly head coach Paul Recrosio said. “She really changed her speeds today and kept them off-balance.”

The hard-throwing right-hander fanned five Big Red hitters multiple times, including the No. 4 and No. 5 hitters three times each. She also ended five of the seven innings with a strikeout and recorded at least one K in all seven frames, including three in a row after Bellaire’s Sophia Porter led off the top of the sixth with a single and went to second when the ball was misplayed.

“She came up huge there,” Recrosio said. “That was really big.”

Burwell allowed five singles and was aided by catcher Alaina Cook throwing out a would-be base stealer for the first out in the top of the second.

The Cadets (2-4) won their second straight game after an 0-4 start. They did so with a pair of unearned runs in the second and sixth innings.

Cook slapped a single to left leading off the bottom of the second. She stole second and scored when Brooke Edge’s grounder was thrown wildly to first.

In the sixth, Haley Heitz blooped a leadoff single down the rightfield line. After stealing second, she also raced around when another low throw to first got away.

“We’ve got to play good defense and keep runners off the bases,” Recrosio said. “We also need to have quality at-bats. I think we did a great job of both today.”

Bellaire’s Grace Maupin was the tough-luck loser. She fanned half-a-dozen, didn’t walk a batter and only permitted three singles.

“Not too many girls got on (base). We got the leadoff girl on in the sixth, but then we had three straight strike outs. You can’t have that,” Bellaire (0-3) head coach Dave Menendez said. “Hitting is a problem for us right now. We’ve been working on it constantly. I hope it starts to come around.”

Menendez praised the work of Maupin.

“There’s nothing she could of done any different,” he said. “She did her job. It was two groundballs that we didn’t make plays on.”

Although the Big Reds had the two miscues, they did turn an inning-ending double play to avoid further damage in the second.

Linsly hosts Cameron today while Bellaire entertains Martins Ferry on the Middle School diamond in St. Joe today. The same two teams will make up Monday’s postponement on Thursday in Martins Ferry.