The Packer softball team got a big game from their pitcher in a 5-2 win over No. 6 seeded Northfield in the first round of the Section 1AAA playoffs in Todd Park Wednesday.

Austin’s Autumn Jurgensen fanned 13 while allowing just one earned run against the Raiders.

“She was phenomenal tonight,” Austin shortstop Tana Lukes said. “That’s all there is to it.”

While Jurgensen held down Northfield’s offense, she also had two sacrifice flies to help her cause. After Northfield (8-10 overall) tied the game at 2 in the third, the third-seeded Packers (11-10 overall) took a 3-2 lead when Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly by Jurgensen. Austin scored on an Emma Arboe RBI-single in the fourth and a Lukes RBI single in the sixth.

Austin never scored more than one in an inning.

“Coach told us not to worry about getting enough runs,” Lukes said. “If you get too far ahead too early you kind of start slacking and we’ve done that quite a few times this year. But we kept it going the whole game tonight.”

Jurgensen said it was important for Austin to take an early lead since it was playing against a team with some momentum as Northfield beat Albert Lea to start the day.

“When you have a bye and they’re coming in confident from a win and you’re coming in cold it’s tough,” Jurgensen said. “Everybody just came out with a lot of energy. We knew we couldn’t get behind and expect to come back.”

The Packers will play No. 2 Hastings Friday at 7 p.m. in Todd Park and are guaranteed to play a game on Tuesday.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E

Northfield 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 6 4

Austin 1 1 1 1 0 1 X 5 10 2

Austin pitching: Autumn Jurgensen (W), 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 13 K

Austin hitting: Sara Sundberg, 2-of-4; Tana Lukes, 3-of-4, RBI; Ashley Crump, 1-of-3; Autumn Jurgensen, 0-of-1, 2 RBIs; Jolene Brody, 0-of-3, SB; Maggie Jorgenson, 0-of-3; Brandi Ruroden, 1-of-3; Brittany Hoban, 1-of-2; Emma Arboe, 2-of-3, 2 RBIs

Northfield pitching: Erin Eggum, 6 IP, 10 H, 5 R

Northfield hitting: Maren Dvorak, 2-of-4; Morgan Zabel, 2-of-3; Kaityln Bicek, 0-of-3; Haely Loesch, 1-of-2; Katie McDonald, 1-of-3, double; Ashley Leahy, 0-of-3; Megan Pumper, 0-of-2, BB; Lauren Behr, 0-of-1; Chelsea Trebelhorn, 0-of-1; Cianna Ericksen, 0-of-1