Zoey Silva was in the zone in the circle, and the Rock Falls bats followed suit in Wednesday’s Class 2A Oregon Regional semifinal.

Silva struck out 17 while allowing just four hits, two unearned runs and one walk in the Rockets’ 7-2 victory over Winnebago at Oregon Park West. Rock Falls (13-19) advances to the regional title game Saturday against host Oregon.

Silva kept the Indians off-balance all night, mixing her pitches to strike out every Winnebago hitter at least once, and seven of them at least twice each. She threw 81 of her 110 pitches for strikes.

“I was throwing my curveball the entire time, and I was working my changeup in. Both of those pitches were really working today; normally that changeup doesn’t, so that was really exciting to see,” Silva said. “I was just thinking, ‘OK, I’ve got to do this for the team, just go out and pitch.’ I don’t really think about myself. Everyone here wants it, and I have to play my part to help the team.”

After Winnebago scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the first, Silva reached on an error and scored on an another error in the top of the third to tie it up. Then the Rockets batted around in the fourth, sending 10 hitters to the plate and scoring four runs.

Silva and Kendra Scott both ripped two-run singles, and leadoff hitter Madisyn Eikenberry added her second hit of the game to ignite the two-out rally, picking up her teammates after consecutive strikeouts.

“We’re at our peak as a team right now and we’re all playing together, and it’s been really fun. We’re picking each other and we’re playing as a team,” Eikenberry said. “We knew that we weren’t chasing anything above our hands, and we were ready. We’d seen this pitcher before, we knew what we were looking for, and we were dialed in from the first pitch.”

Winnebago scored on another passed ball to cut the deficit to 5-2 in the bottom of the fourth, but the Rockets answered in the top of the fifth.

Jozlyn Chattic walked and Hadley Osborne singled to bring up the top of the order, and after a wild pitch, Eikenberry’s hard grounder was misplayed to allow both runners to score.

“The bottom of the order really started that rally, and we put the ball in play,” Eikenberry said. “We hustled, never gave up on any play, and we just wanted to have fun, and I think that’s really what made the difference today.”

Winnebago pitcher Kyla Warkentien limited the damage after Rock Falls loaded the bases with one out, getting a strikeout and a soft lineout to keep the deficit at 7-2.

But Silva was in total control from there. She retired the final 11 hitters in order, striking out nine of them as she settled in and cruised with the lead.

“It was really, really exciting once we got ahead,” said Silva, who also finished with four hits and reached base five times. “It felt like, ‘We’ve got this, we’re rolling now.’ It’s super, super exciting to play for a regional title on Saturday; I can’t wait.”