DUBUQUE -- Hannah Petersen has been good -- really good -- all season,  but Tuesday night she was better.

Petersen threw her first no-hitter of the season, striking out nine, in Jefferson's 11-0 five-inning shutout of Dubuque Wahlert in the opener of a Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader. Wahlert won the second game, 4-2.

The split, coupled with Dubuque Hempstead's sweep of Waterloo West, narrowed the J-Hawks' lead over Hempstead to one-half game in the Valley Division with two games to play. Jefferson (29-7, 20-3) plays a doubleheader at Waterloo East (18-18, 13-10) Thursday. Hempstead (33-4, 20-4) hosts Linn-Mar (16-22, 9-15) in a doubleheader Thursday.

“It always feels good to throw a no hitter,” Petersen said. “I didn’t realize it (the no-hitter) until someone told me after the game.

“My team made some nice plays to help me earn that (no-hitter).”

Petersen’s perfect game was broken up in the second inning when she walked the Wahlert cleanup hitter to start the inning. Petersen quickly got out of the inning striking out the next three hitters.

Petersen gave up one more walk, the second coming in the fourth inning, and another runner reached on a J-Hawk error in the third inning.

The Jefferson offense helped Petersen out with two big innings, scoring six in the second and adding five more in the fourth to take an 11-0 lead and put the 10-run rule into effect.

The J-Hawks sent 10 batters to the plate in the second inning. Carson Burgart started the scoring with a two-run triple.

Jefferson again sent 10 hitters to the plate in the fourth inning, highlighted by three consecutive RBI singles by the top of the J-Hawk order (juniors Rachel Sedlacek, Kailey Drake, and Petersen).

The nightcap did not go as well for the J-Hawks. They looked far from a top tier team in a 4-2 loss.

Senior Katie Naber managed to scatter eight hits and gave up just three earned runners in a fairly well-pitched game. Naber still took the loss as the J-Hawk defense played abnormally shaky.

Despite only one J-Hawk error, the Jefferson defense struggled to make plays they routinely made in the past. The normally outstanding J-Hawk defense allowed multiple infield singles that came back to hurt them.

Wahlert (14-23, 8-16) first struck in the fourth inning when Kelli Koppes, Gabby Tath and Angel Moore all knocked in a run with two-out singles.

Ana Schmitt singled and scored again in the fifth when Jefferson third baseman Maddy Blietz kicked a slow ground ball with two outs, allowing Kaitlyn Burds to reach safely and a run to score to that gave Wahlert a 4-0 lead after five.

The J-Hawk offense was quiet until the sixth when Sedlacek doubled then scored on a throwing error to put Jefferson on the board. Junior Kenna Fry tacked on another run in the inning with a solo home run to right to put the game at 4-2.

Jefferson left runners on second on third in the seventh.

GAME 1

JEFFERSON (11)
Rachel Sedlacek, LF, 3 2 1 1, Kailey Drake, CF, 4 2 2 3, Ashley Madsen, CF, 1 0 0 0, Hannah Petersen, P, 3 0 2 2, Hannah Towns, cr, 0 0 0 0, Kenna Fry, 1B, 3 0 0 0, Dani Stromert, 1B, 0 0 0 0, Maddie Hanson, DP, 2 2 0 0, Maddie Koolbeck, RF, 3 0 1 0, Amber Grimm, RF, 0 0 0 0, Hannah McInerney, 3B, 3 1 2 1, Carson Burgart, SS, 3 2 1 2, Kaitlyn Davidson, 2B, 0 2 0 0, Nicole Marquart, C, 0 0 0 0. Totals 25 11 9 9.

DUBUQUE WAHLERT (0)
Megan Rokusek, 3B, 2 0 0 0, Ana Schmitt, 2B, 2 0 0 0, Maddy Nilles, SS, 2 0 0 0, Alex Bahl, C, 1 0 0 0, Holly Klein, cr, 0 0 0 0, Kaitlyn Burds, LF, 1 0 0 0, Erin Trannel, pr, 0 0 0 0, Kelli Koppes, RF, 2 0 0 0, Gabby Tath, 1B, 2 0 0 0, Angel Moore, DP, 2 0 0 0, Brittney Rogers, P, 2 0 0 0, Jesse Bahl, P, 0 0 0 0. Totals 16 0 0 0.

Jefferson 060 50 -  11  9  1
Wahlert   000 00 -   0  0  2
Petersen and Marquart. Rogers, J. Bahl (5) and A. Bahl. W – Petersen. L – Rogers. 2B – McInerney. 3B – Burgart.

GAME 2

JEFFERSON (2)
Rachel Sedlacek, LF, 4 1 1 0, Kailey Drake, CF, 4 0 1 0, Hannah Petersen, RF, 4 0 1 0, Kenna Fry, 3 1 2 1, Hannah Towns, pr, 0 0 0 0, Amber Grimm, DP, 1 0 1 0, Carson Burgart, SS, 2 0 1 0, Kaitlyn Davidson, 2B, 3 0 0 0, Katie Naber, P, 3 0 0 0, Maddy Blietz, 3B, 1 0 0 0, Maddie Koolbeck, ph, 1 0 0 0, Maddie Hanson, ph, 1 0 1 0, Nicole Marquart, C, 0 0 0 0. Totals 27 2 8 1.

DUBUQUE WAHLERT (4)
Megan Rokusek, 3B, 4 0 1 0, Ana Schmitt, 2B, 3 2 2 0, Maddy Nilles, SS, 2 0 0 0, Alex Bahl, C, 2 0 1 0, Holly Klein, cr, 0 1 0 0, Kaitlyn Burds, LF, 3 0 0 0, Kelli Koppes, RF, 3 1 1 1, Gabby Tath, P, 3 0 2 1, Jessica Link, cr, 0 0 0 0, Angel Moore, DP, 3 0 1 1, Brittney Rogers, 1B, 1 0 0 0, Erin Trannel, CF, 0 0 0 0. Totals 24 4 8 3.

Jefferson  000 002 0 -  2  8  1
Wahlert    000 310 x -  4  8  1
Naber and Marquart. Tath and A. Bahl. W – Tath. L – Naber. 2B – Sedlacek, Drake, Petersen. 3B – Tath. HR - Fry.