Photo by Samantha Davis: Milroy Irish shortstop Dominic Dolan throws the ball to first base during a non-league amateur baseball game against the Granite Falls Kilowatts on Sunday at the Irish Yard in Milroy.

MILROY — Both the Milroy Irish and Granite Falls Kilowatts wrapped up their regular season Sunday afternoon in a seven-inning non-league matchup, and despite a low-scoring game, the Irish held on for a 2-0 win behind a strong defensive effort.

Although Granite Falls continued to chip away at the plate, Milroy’s Dominic Dolan made several crucial defensive plays at shortstop to limit the Kilowatt’s chances of reaching base.

“[I was] just trying to make the plays when they come my way, and help the pitchers out as much as I can,” Dolan said. “Some of those are slow rollers. I know those chunk base hits aren’t good momentum plays for us, so just trying to make those plays for our pitchers and our defense to get out of jams and stuff like that.”

The Irish had a clean slate on the night with no errors while recording six hits, to Granite Falls’ two errors and four hits.

Milroy scored its two runs both in the bottom of the third inning, while shutting out the Kilowatts the entire night.

Nikson Knapper tossed all but one inning for Granite Falls, also throwing a competitive performance to challenge Milroy at the plate. He finished with a game-high five strikeouts while allowing one walk.

“You’ve got to tip your cap, Knapper threw well … He had a good change-up that was keeping us off balance, and we were out in front of a lot of his pitches,” Milroy manager Anthony Dolan said. “You’ve got to give him credit. I didn’t think we hit the ball super well, but enough to get the W.”

Tyler Maeyaert, Craig Lasley, Tyler Peterson and Trevor Smith all got some time on the mound for the Irish, which Anthony said was a strategy leading into the game to get in more reps prior to playoffs beginning this week.

“Obviously, you want to win the ballgame, but the approach today was to get all of our pitchers some work, and get all of our guys in at-bat or two to get ready for the playoffs,” Anthony Dolan said. “This was a game to make sure that everybody’s ready to rock and roll.”

Maeyaert and Lasley each struck out a trio of batters.

After two scoreless innings to begin the game, Derek Smith hit the go-ahead RBI single with a fly ball to center-right field to score Maeyaert to put the Irish ahead.

Maeyaert first reached base with a double fly ball to center field.

Smith also got home off a Peterson RBI single, with a line drive to left field, to give Milroy its 2-0 lead, ultimately becoming the final score.

“We just had to get the bats rolling, and the top-of-the-order guys got to get on (base) for Derek, and stuff like that behind us,” Dominic Dolan said. “He will hit us in, and we know that. Just staying focused up there at the plate, getting good pitches to swing at and getting on base.”

Quickly returning Milroy back to the plate, Dominic accounted for all three outs in the top of the fourth inning after fielding three straight hits for a force-out to Anthony, manning first base.

Dominic also initiated a double play in the fifth inning with a Granite Falls’ runner on first, for a force at second and first after fielding a play.

“[We had] very good defense … Dominic played extremely well at shortstop, and Moses [Dolan] made a nice play to end the game,” Anthony said. “Our bats have been hit or miss all year, but our pitching and defense has been strong. So, to keep that going in the last regular-season game of the year has been huge for us.”

The Kilowatts also had a few strong defensive plays, including a double-play with two Milroy runners on base in the fifth, with Bryce Sneller catching an infield fly near second base and throwing a runner out at first leading off.

Granite Falls had an opportunity to get on the board or tie the game up in the top of the sixth inning with Knapper on third and Ty Schulte on first. Schulte walked, while Knapper hit a double with a fly ball to deep center field and reached third off a Sneller sacrifice hit.

Yet with two outs, Milroy’s Maeyaert caught a foul ball outside the third base line to prevent Granite Falls from scoring.

Milroy finishes the regular season 12-8 overall and has earned the second seed in the Region 10C Tournament, played between the Gopher and First Nite Leagues, with a 10-4 league record.

The Irish will open up postseason play on a three-game win streak in a best-of-three series against the No. 7 Lakefield Horned Frogs (4-10 overall and in-league) at home on Wednesday with a 7:30 p.m. first pitch.

“Playoffs are always different baseball, it’s fun baseball,” Dominic said. “It’s a good atmosphere, that’s for sure. It’s nice to get a win right here … Having a little momentum going into playoffs is big for us.”

The last time the two met on June 8, Milroy came away with a 13-0 win in eight innings behind Smith’s 10-strikeout shutout, and three different players recorded a trio of hits.

“We’ve got to come out with a lot of energy. When this team comes out with energy and we’re firing on all cylinders, we’re tough to beat,” Anthony said. “If we don’t have that energy, when we come out flat, then we’re relying on our pitching and defense and we need the bats to put up runs for us.”

Granite Falls’ 6-8 league record earned them the third seed in the Region 2C Tournament, which includes teams from the Corn Belt and Tomahawk East Leagues. The Kilowatts will take on No. 6 Gibbon (7-9 in-league) at 1:30 p.m. to begin its postseason in Springfield. The two have not yet met this season.

Box score

MILROY

N. Knapper: L, 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, BB, 5 SO; G. Wilke: IP, H, SO.