After three straight losses, one of which was Austin’s most lop-sided loss of the season, the Packer softball team needed to get back on track. Austin was able to snap its skid when it beat the Tigers 8-2 in Todd Park Saturday.

AL (0-6 overall) pulled within 3-2 when Khira Hacker doubled in two runs in the fourth, but the Packers bounced back. Jenna Braaten knocked in a run in the fifth and she singled in two more runs in the sixth inning to put the game away for Austin.

Braaten said the Packers were glad to pick a rebound win after they had lost to Owatonna 14-1 on Thursday.

“We came out here this morning and there was good weather. That automatically made us all feel better,” Braaten said. “We knew coming out here we couldn’t have as many errors as we had against Owatonna and we knew we had to hit the ball.”

Austin (9-6 overall, 6-5 Big Nine) came out swinging as Hannah McMasters had a two-out RBI single in the first inning and Adison Medgaarden doubled in two runs in the bottom of the second.

“It felt really good to get going early,” said McMasters, who had two RBIs. “I just knew I had to go out and hit and get out of that slump. It feels good to get a win against Albert Lea.”

Eighth grader Jaeda Bekaert picked up the win for Austin as she struck out eight and allowed zero earned runs.

“Jaeda’s getting better. She’s still pretty young,” Austin head coach Al Eckmann said. “She’s made a lot of nice pitches and Ron Bergstrom has done a lot of nice work with her and he gets her where she needs to be. She’s going to be a really good pitcher and she’s a good pitcher already.”

Austin has slowly made the adjustment to playing outside after it played its first nine games of the season under the dome.

“In the dome the ball travels a lot farther and it bounces a lot more,” Braaten said. “Out here we have to learn to sit back on it.”

Austin has a busy week ahead next week as it will square off against Winona twice and it will also play Red Wing. The Section 1AAA tournament is set to begin May 22.

“We needed to get back on the winning side and that’s big for us to do,” Eckmann said. “We’ve got Winona twice next week and we’ve just got to get some wins. We want to be a top-four seed in the section.”

AL 0 0 0  2 0 0  0  —  2   6  2

Austin 1 2 0  0 1 4  X  —  8  11 1

Austin pitching: Jaeda Bekaert (W) 7 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 2 R, 0 ER, 8 K

Austin hitting: Halie Retterath, 1-for-4, R; Adison Medgaarden, 1-for-4, double, 2 RBIs, R; Jordyn McCormack, 2-for-3, R, SB, BB; Hannah McMasters, 2-for-3, 2 RBIs, R, BB; Kyra Walters, 1-for-3, RBI; Avery Thompson, 0-for-2, 2 R, BB, HBP; Taylor Derry, 2-for-3, double, BB; Jenna Braaten, 2-for-4, 3 RBIs, R; Hannah Biwer, 0-for-2, R, BB